Crossed Connections
by Triscribe
Summary: After a mission goes wrong, the League drops in to find out what happened - and receive quite the shock for their trouble. And when Green Arrow puts his foot in his mouth, the disgruntled parents get involved... Featuring a very different Young Justice Team from across the dimensional barrier.
1. Chapter 1

_**January 23rd, Mount Justice**_

"_This chemical plant outside of Boston was shut down over eight months ago, but toxicity reports from the nearby coastal areas indicate that someone had begun making use of it again. Danger to local populations aside, scans taken of the building have also revealed heightened energy levels of an unknown source. Your mission is to get in, find out what's going on, and send the information back to the League, preferably without engaging."_

"_Understood, Batman."_

"_We have a zeta tube terminal twenty minutes out from the site that you will be taking; the League will also be on standby until you report in. Depending on what the Team finds, we may or may not be coming in ourselves to clear out the target."_

The eight teenagers had departed from Mount Justice a little over two hours ago, long enough to have arrived at the plant, infiltrated it, and left with the necessary information.

Needless to say, the Leaguers waiting for their report were getting a little... antsy.

"If it's taken them this long, then something had to have gone wrong." Superman stated, glancing every few seconds over the Dark Knight's shoulder at the holo-screen where he was working. Getting tired of the invasion of his space, Batman took a moment to turn his head and glare at the Kryptonian. Said alien raised in hands, palms out, and took a quick half-step back.

"Sorry. It's just... Well, Aqualad's usually more responsible when it he's asked to send back an update in a timely manner." For a brief moment, he'd been about to say something more along the lines of _I've only been on speaking terms with Conner for a few weeks now, dang it, I want to make sure he's ALRIGHT._ But Superman couldn't quite bring himself to say it aloud yet.

A look from Black Canary conveyed that she both knew exactly what was running through his mind, and was of the same opinion when it came to the Team's safety.

"As long as we're all here, then, let's take the zeta tube and head for the plant." The woman suggested, earning more than a few nods of agreement from the other Leaguers present. Icon, Wonder Woman, Flash and a few more voiced that the idea of swinging by at least would be good, while Aquaman, Green Arrow, and the Hawks argued that the kids could handle themselves, and would just be annoyed by the League coming to check up on them.

Batman was just about to speak up and point out that there was no reason for the Team to know they'd been looked in upon, when an alarm from his screen beeped. The heroes in the room fell silent as he opened the beacon alert, those close enough to see the message paling when they recognized the signal as originating from Robin's equipment.

The Dark Knight's stern yet worry-tinged expression when he turned to face them was enough to remove all arguments against going to find the Team's current status.

-CC-

"What in the gods' names happened?" Wonder Woman asked aloud, horrified by the sight before them. The Leaguers had just come from the zeta tube in the nearby city, those who could fly supporting the handful who could not, and finally arrived at the site of the Hobson Chemical Plant.

The _former_ site, anyway.

Half of the building had been reduced to a field of rubble stretching out several hundred yards, twisted pieces of metal supports sticking up from the jumbled concrete. The rest of it remained barely standing, the roof sagging down on cracked and unsteady walls. Inside, signs of old equipment could be seen amidst the wreckage, along with newer structures that seemed to have nothing to do with chemical manufacture.

"Spread out and start searching." Batman ordered, the first to recover from his shock. "J'onn, see if you can locate any of the Team in this mess."

Nodding, the martian reached out his telepathic senses, straining to reach into every corner of the rubble-strewn area. There were definitely signs of life, but pinpointing their exact locations was difficult in the extreme.

Then, there was a return touch, one that was so alike to his niece's that J'onn opened himself to it before registering that there was something... off.

Initial waves of relief turned to confusion as the mind met his, and details were exchanged between the two. Both were certainly martian, and each was able to supply memories of fighting crime on Earth. But the _people_ in those memories, even shared ones of the exact same events, were very, very different.

_*Y-you aren't Aunt J'ann!* _The other mind cried when this became apparent. _*Who a-are you?*_

_*I am J'onn J'onzz. And you are not my niece, M'gann M'orzz.*_

The confusion spiked.

"_No... No, m-my name's __**Mar'gann **__M'orzz.*_

Flying low over the concrete chaos, Superman kept his x-ray vision sweeping over the rubble. Unfortunately, it seemed that whoever had built the plant had used a fair amount of lead in the construction, so his search was less than fruitful. He was, however, unable to miss the movement as a particularly large and relatively intact section of the former wall was shifted upwards. Superman landed and lent his strength to tossing aside the piece of concrete aside.

Underneath was a teenage girl.

Her shoulder length hair, had it not been covered with grey dust, would surely be as dark as his own. Light blue eyes stared up at Superman in shock, the strong jaw hanging slightly slack. What really got him, though, were the scuffed combat boots, ripped cargo pants and the torn black T-shirt that had his S symbol on it.

_Superboy's _symbol. But this was _definitely _not Conner.

"Guess they weren't kidding about that alternate reality stuff." The girl muttered, still staring at him. Superman couldn't bring himself to respond, even when J'onn's warning rang through his and the other Leaguer's mind that something had gone terribly wrong with the Team.

What on Earth were they going to do now?

Batman heard the martian's warning, but it didn't slow him from moving silently through the remnants of the chemical plant. He was checking every crevice and shadow for a sign of Robin, hoping that the boy had moved himself to a secure hiding place when he'd sent the emergency beacon.

"...so not asterous... VERY heavy on the dis..." Muttered words from up ahead had Batman moving a little bit quicker. Reaching what was left of a stairway, he ducked under a diagonal beam to reach a shallow cave formed from the wreckage.

The pair of teens underneath had his breath catching in his throat.

Dressed in a more relaxed version of the long gone Zatara's magician suit, the dark haired boy was unconscious, lying propped up against the wall. Busy wrapping a length of gauze around his bloodied leg was a girl dressed in Robin's uniform. Her raven locks were in a mess, half of them no longer secured by the ponytail band she wore. There were scrapes and tears dotting her outfit, some with blood stains of their own, though she seemed to be ignoring them.

Briefly, the teen's hands stilled as she shot a quick glance over her shoulder, before returning to her task.

"So... I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you aren't Batwoman." Startled by the blunt statement, it took him a moment to answer.

"No. I'm Batman."

"Okay, then, Bat... Man, either you're a good guy and you'll give me a hand here, or you're a bad guy that I'm going to have to take down in a minute." Never once did her tone waver, but he could see the slightly greater tremble in the girl's hands as she tried to tie off the knot on the bandage.

Without a word, he stepped forward and took the gauze from her grasp, neatly securing it and tearing off the excess.

"Thanks." She said, still in the same position. Then, cautiously, the girl raised her head to look him in the face.

Dark bangs barely came down to the top of her mask, which had been ripped nearly in half along the line formed by a thin gash extending across the top of her nose. One of the teen's eyes was visible, and Batman would've sworn it was the exact same shade of deep blue as his own partner's... As Dick's.

"I'm Robyn. And this is Zetenni. Have you seen any of our-"

"The other Justice Leaguers are looking for the rest of your Team as we speak." He assured her. "You might want to replace your mask with the spare in your furthest right belt pouch before we join them, though."

She blinked at him, before letting out a long, slow exhale. "That is so not whelming."

"No," Batman agreed. "My Robin would call it concerting."

That got another blink and a small grin out of her.

As Robyn pulled out her spare mask and swapped it for the damaged one on her face, Batman carefully lifted the still unconscious Zetenni into his arms. When they were both ready, the Bird and the Bat left the sheltered spot and began walking towards the edge of the destruction.

"What happened here?" Robyn sighed at the question she'd known would be coming.

"It's a long story." She said honestly. "But the short version is, I think we've been tossed into another dimension. Or exchanged, I guess, if you've got a Team who was investigating this place tonight."

"We did. I received an emergency signal about half an hour ago, from what I assumed was my partner's gauntlet."

"Well, it was probably mine, since that's what I did when I first woke up. Zee was the only other one I could find, so I unburied and dragged him into that spot to wrap up his leg." Batman nodded at her words, and though he burned to figure out what had happened to his Robin, he knew it would be better to wait until all of the League and these altered Team members were all together.

A nearby explosion promised that would be easier said than done.


	2. Chapter 2

Dang, this story got favorites and follows fast... Since I'd already been debating how soon to post chapter two, here you go folks! And thanks for reading!

-Triscribe

"Would you stop shooting long enough to just listen to us?!" Green Arrow yelled at the yellow blur that continued to race around him and Black Canary, keeping them away from the young man with a broken bow who crouched by the base of a rubble pile. "We aren't trying to hurt you!"

"Yeah, right!" A pair of voices called back, neither the blur nor the archer believing them. Coming across the pair in the field of rubble, Arrow and Canary had tried to help, thinking they were Artemis and Kid Flash. Once that mistake was remedied, the pair had begun to fight them, launching fists and an explosive arrow before GA had managed to lash out and break the bow in the teen's hands. Now they were in a stalemate, but the Leaguers knew the noise would attract more attention pretty quickly.

Suddenly, a red streak raced past, knocking the yellow one off course. The teen with long red hair yelped as she tumbled across the rubble to slam into the pile beside her friend.

"Willow!" He cried, reaching out to catch the girl before she could collapse in pain. Flash came to a stop beside his fellow adults with an apologetic look on his face.

"Look, kids, I'm sorry about that, but you need to-"

"Sorry? Creep, you don't know what sorry !" The teen snarled, pulling out a collapsible crossbow from his quiver. Before he could aim and fire, though, the girl in the Kid Flash costume reached out and grabbed it.

"Babe, I don't think that's really a good idea." She muttered, trying to blink her eyes back into focus. "Look."

Following her gaze, the adults also turned to see the rest of the Leaguers approaching - along with a handful of teenagers looking rather worse for wear.

A tall, dark skinned girl with white dreadlocks reached them first, followed closely by Aquaman and the pair of Thanagarians. "Apollo, Kid, stand down. Fighting these heroes is not going to accomplish anything."

"Kinda wish you'd said that before I got slammed, Kaldura." The red haired teen replied, rising unsteadily to her feet. The boy put away his crossbow to help her, still glaring at Flash.

"Maybe you should have thought of it before running into a fight!" Another girl cackled from beside Batman, who was also carrying a teen in his arms.

"Shut up, Robyn. And what's wrong with Zetenni?"

"Got his leg gashed. Should be okay." The smaller teen shrugged, though the motion made her wince slightly. "How are the rest of you guys?"

"Sore!" Another teen in blue and grey combat gear complained. "I got my shield up in time to block the blast, but having a wall fall on me was not fun."

"Look on the bright side, Rocket. At least you don't have to replace your clothes again." The girl wearing the S symbol said as she walked up with a dazed looking Superman. Her eyes moved from the gathering to the pair of martians just landing. "Mar'gann, are you okay?"

"F-fine, Supergirl," The boy with green skin and a mop of red hair replied shakily. "Still a bit, bit fuzzy, but fine."

"I believe this is everyone." J'onn gently broke in.

"Then we can finally get an explanation for what the heck is going on!" Green Arrow crossed his arms and looked pointedly at the trio who stood together. The oldest of them stepped forward the address the group of Leaguers.

"My name is Kaldura'ehm, or Aqualass." She said quietly with a slight dip of her head. "My Team and I were sent to investigate the formerly abandoned Hobdottir Chemical Plant by Batwoman. Our orders were to infiltrate, discover who was using the plant and why, before reporting back to the Justice League members waiting on standby."

"We snuck in just fine, but it took a bit of doing to get to a computer terminal connected to their network." Robyn piped up. "It turned out the nutjobs were combining various compounds with this form of... Solidified energy, would be the only way to describe it. Stuff that they were gathering from the fabric of reality, the wall between worlds. That was our hint that they were trying to figure out how to get across different dimensions."

"We were on our way out when a van arrived, with some specialists who were hired to conduct some of their own experiments." The teen in the Kid Flash uniform put in, adding air quotes to the term _specialists._

"A couple just seemed to be regular scientists. And sane, too, because they were nervous about the last one." Supergirl's shoulders tensed up as she spoke.

"It was the Joker," The younger martian, Mar'gann, kept looking at the ground. "He threw a gas pellet at one of the guards, but the smoke billowed out so quickly it revealed me in camouflage mode, and blew our cover."

"It got kind of wild after that. Somewhere in the fight, the main vat of the chemical mixture was hit, probably by one of Rob's disks... Or one of my arrows." Apollo muttered, idly kicking one boot against a piece of concrete. Kid Flash reached out a hand and placed it reassuringly on the archer's shoulder.

"Next thing we know, there's this huge explosion, shock waves shaking everything up." Raising his hands up in the air, Rocket pantomimed the forces that had been at work. "I mean, holding up my shield for me and Kal took more concentration than I've ever needed before, and even with all the energy blasting us, it barely held."

"And then we woke up here, surrounded by you people." The younger Kryptonian's blunt finish was undercut by a groan. All eyes turned to look at Batman, who swiftly but gently deposited the waking Zetenni on the ground. Robyn was by his side in an instant.

"Wha- What happened?" The magician groaned, blearily opening his eyes and glancing around.

"We got blown up and thrown into another dimension where the League's genders have been swapped." The ninja girl answered simply. Zetenni stared at her, then up at Batman, and back at his teammate.

"I think I was better off unconscious."

-CC-

Paula Crock took the news in silence. That would have worried Green Arrow even more if he didn't know the woman was simply mulling it over in her head. Right after getting the reversed Team back to Mount Justice, the Leaguers who needed to had gone and called parents to explain that their kids were... indisposed, at the moment. Arrow hadn't meant to, but he'd ended up explaining the entire thing to Artemis' mom, finding a bit of relief in just talking about the bizarre situation aloud. He would feel bad about it, except he was certain Flash would be doing the exact same thing to his wife and in-laws.

"What are you going to have them do now?" Startled out of his thoughts by the reply, it took a few moments for GA to respond.

"Well, uh, they'll stay at the Mountain until we can figure out how to send them home and get our Team back."

Paula took all of three seconds before she shot out, "Unacceptable."

"Uh, what?"

"These teenagers have been dropped into a world just like, and yet, completely different from their own. Keeping them cooped up like criminals is unacceptable when they have done nothing wrong. I will be calling Wally's parents, and I'm sure they will agree that these alternate teens would be better off sleeping in real homes, close to those who will watch over them. And I will also be asking the Wests to pass on that thought to the other parents they know."

Green Arrow paled slightly at the thought of Ma and Pa Kent getting wind of this. To his knowledge, Superman had only taken Conner to see them a couple of times since New Year's, but the elderly couple had already taken to the kid like a second son.

No. Not good at all.

"Paula, I'm not sure I can convince the others-"

"Nonsense. Ask them- I'm sure at least a few will be accepting of it." Unfortunately, the woman wasn't bluffing, either. Not even a few days earlier, Artemis had invited the Team over to her house after a successful early-morning mission to unwind and have breakfast. Sometime during their conversations, the teens had discussed their various mentors and families, allowing Paula to be absolutely sure of herself when stating that the adults would agree to these reverse Team members having a more comfortable stay.

He just wasn't sure Batman would be one of them.


	3. Chapter 3

Batman wasn't sure what Alfred would say.

Once the members of the League had gathered together again in the mission room of Mount Justice, he'd brought up the need for settling the reverse Team in safe surroundings until the situation could be remedied. Green Arrow had tentatively brought up Paula Crock's suggestion for housing the teens, who were currently keeping to the hall outside the medical bay where Black Canary was checking Zetenni's wound.

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Flash had said immediately.

"Scattering them to the wind?" Frowning, Wonder Woman glared at the two men. "I feel this would only lead to trouble, especially if they feel threatened."

"And yet, it would be simpler for providing them with proper meals." Aquaman put in.

"As well as allowing the teens to change into civilian identities, and give them the opportunities to relax." Several of the heroes looked at Batman in surprise at his words.

Arrow responded first. "You- you actually wouldn't mind them leaving the Mountain?"

"I'd been debating suggesting it to the rest of you." The Dark Knight admitted. "But it isn't up to us to decide - right, Robyn?"

A higher pitched cackle than what the Leaguers were used to echoed about the room, followed by the slender form suddenly appearing by Batman's side.

"Definitely just as good as my mentor." The girl said proudly, straightening her posture and resting her hands on her hips before continuing. "And while I can't speak for the others, I don't think they'll say no. Just, be sure that we get to come back here often until this gets fixed."

-CC-

"They seriously want to split us up?" Apollo asked, incredulous.

"A few do. The others are uneasy about it, which is why they're leaving the choice up to us." Robyn shrugged as her teammates mulled over the new development.

"Eh, since I live at the Mountain anyway, it doesn't matter much to me," Zetenni said from the medical berth he was sitting up on. "Just as long as you guys call or come in often enough I don't go bonkers."

Robyn couldn't help but smirk. "I made that pretty clear when they spoke to me about it."

"Well... I guess I wouldn't mind going to stay with my grandfather." Rocket paused. "Or is it my grandmother, here? Dang it, is everybody's gender switched in this world or is it just the heroes?"

"Everybody. I did some research using their WiFi." Pulling up the small holo-screen on her gauntlet, Robyn scrolled through a few screens too quickly for anyone but Kid Flash to follow. "Past and present political leaders, historical figures, famous writers and musicians, news casters, businesswomen - _every_ person in this world seems to be the same as our own, just with a different look. Even the Statue of Liberty is female!"

Supergirl slowly shook her head. "Weird."

"So, that would make every boy I've ever flirted with a girl here?" KF mused. "Heh, I wonder if this world's version of me had any better luck."

"Probably not, Baywatch. And you'd better watch it with that train of thought."

"Whatever you say, Babe." Kid Flash still shot a wink to her best friend, who grinned right back. "Still, it does make me want to see what the Central City here is like."

Apollo groaned. "And stick me back at an apartment that could at any time have an assassin show up, who'd attack me first and ask questions later? No thank you."

"Oh, come one, Pol! You'd be able to hold off Cheshire long enough for your dad- er, mom- or whoever, to explain."

"... You just want to visit the West's house because you know they'll feed you a speedster's diet there."

"I cannot survive on protein bars alone!"

That, at least, got a brief chuckle out of anyone. Robyn would swear sometimes that Willow's knack for distracting people from the current situation was a second superpower to her speed.

"I would not be opposed to spending time in this world's Atlantis." Aqualass said quietly, steering their conversation back on track.

"Same for me, but with the Batcave."

Mar'gann nodded slowly. "I think it would be good for those of us not used to living at the Mountain to get out and about." Supergirl grunted an affirmative to that as well.

All eyes turned to Apollo, who crossed his arms as glared back.

"Y'know, Pol, it was this world's version of your dad who insisted on us crashing at our alternates' households." Robyn carefully said. The blond archer's eyebrows rose as he glanced at the ninja. "I overheard part of her conversation with Green Arrow. Very determined woman, it sounded like."

Apollo huffed, then growled out an answer. "I can't believe I'm agreeing to this..."

-CC-

"I can't believe I agreed to this." Chuckling, Ollie awkwardly patted the back of the bitter young man beside him.

"There wasn't much you could have done to avoid it, I think. Paula's practically the fiercest woman I know."

Apollo quirked an eyebrow at him. "Practically?"

"Well, Canary comes in first, but only when she's upset with me. The rest of the time it's Paula."

"Hmph." Inside his head, Apollo continued to compare this man with his own version of Green Arrow, or Olivia King. She hadn't been the greatest of mentors, but he was used to her, at least.

This Arrow, acting so much like Oli, was just disturbing to be around.

The two of them had arrived on the fire escape outside what Apollo would have called his apartment building. They were about to slip inside through the window of what looked just like his living room.

And when they did enter the cozy living space, there was a woman waiting in, to Apollo's eyes, his father's wheelchair.

"Paula," Green Arrow greeted her, and the woman nodded, though her gaze was reserved solely for the teen who found himself shrinking slightly from her scrutiny.

Then the woman smiled slightly, and rolled herself forward in order to reach out a hand for his.

"Hello, Apollo," She said softly. "I know this must be strange for you beyond anything I could hope to understand, but I hope you will at least feel safe here." He blinked, and offered a small smile of his own.

"Thanks, Mrs. Crock..." A frown flickered over her features. "Paula." Apollo corrected, and the lips twitched back.

"Now, I took the chance you would be close in build to my daughter, and bought some clean clothes for you to try on." She gestured towards a door at the end of the small hallway, one that the teen knew lead to what would be his bedroom. "Arrow, you are welcome to stay for dinner, if you like..."

"No thank you, Paula, I actually have plans with- Oh! Crap!" GA face-palmed himself. "I forgot to call Roy and tell him what happened!"

Apollo smirked as he walked towards the bedroom, certain that if this world's Red Arrow was anything like the Reyna he knew, Ollie was in for a rough night. Shutting the door behind him, the teen surveyed the dim bedroom, noting all the similarities to his own, as well as the plain t-shirt, jeans and leather jacket folded neatly on the far bed. There was also a pair of lace up boots on the floor beside it.

He walked over, shedding pieces of his green uniform and exchanging them for the civilian clothes, which fit surprisingly well. Apollo was just shrugging on the jacket as he turned to leave again when he spotted the poster.

It read _Alice in Wonderland,_ and displayed a small girl with long blond hair in a blue and white dress talking to a widely grinning cat. Back home, the words would have been _Arnold in Wonderland, _with a little boy in white and blue.

That's when it really hit Apollo that he was in another world.

And that his arrow, one stupid, explosive-tipped arrow, was most likely what had gotten him and and his team stuck here. Because, if there was one thing the teen understood about accidents, it was that the big ones were hard to fix.

There couldn't have been much bigger than being transported across the dimensional barrier. He didn't notice when a few silent tears rolled down his face, nor when the door opened.

It wasn't until a pair of hands had grasped one of his own that Apollo glanced away from the poster, and into the warmly sympathetic eyes of Paula Crock. Then the tears weren't so silent, and the normally strong as stone teenager began to sag, dropping to his knees and resting his head in Paula's lap. She continued to provide him something to hold on to, stroking her fingers through his limp hair and whispering over and over again that everything would be okay.

But would it? And would the others blame him for it?

-CC-

"You're kidding." Jade said flatly.

"Do I seem like I'd come up with a story this crazy?" Roy got out between clenched teeth. "But if you really care about your sister, you'll help me get information on just who was in that chemical plant."

"Well, as much as I'd like to help get the baby sis and her little teammates back, what's to say I wouldn't prefer having a brother around instead?" Seriously wondering why he'd even bothered to get in touch with the assassin, Roy took a deep breath to calm himself down.

"Look. GA told me that when he left, this Apollo kid was in the middle of a pretty serious breakdown. Wherever she is, don't you think it's likely Artemis is going through the same thing?"

Jade was silent for a few minutes, her neutral expression giving Roy exactly nothing to work with. Finally she spoke. "I'll want something in return for information-gathering."

"What?" There probably wouldn't be much she wanted besides money or a get out of jail free card for future use-

"A date." That... Wasn't what he expected. At Roy's blank look, Jade smirked and put back on her Cheshire mask. "I'll be sure to bring you all the details when I get back." With that, she vanished from the rooftop, leaving a stunned hero to try and get his thoughts back together.

Growling, Roy eventually turned to leave, deciding he needed to go fuss at Ollie, just to get a sense of normalcy back into his night.


	4. Chapter 4

"Cool, your Cave looks just like ours. Dinosaur, Giant Penny, Evil Playing Card... Check, check, and check again. Does you computer run on the same system software here? I bet it does. And the League systems, too, I'll have to see if I can hack 'em as easily as the Hall of Justice last July..." Robyn continued to chatter on as she inspected the elements of Batman's center of operations. She was perfectly aware that the hero himself had ceased listening to her after the first few sentences, but oddly enough, she found that fact comforting - it was no different than her Batwoman, after all.

The teen's words found something new to go on about when the third member of their family arrived. "Ooh, you're this world's version of Anne Marie, huh?"

"Indeed, young Mistress. My name, though, is Alfred Pennyworth."

"Ah. I'm Robyn, which I'm guessing the big guy here already told you."

"He did. And may I assume you have another name beneath that mask? Something in relation to Dick Grayson?"

She chuckled at the elderly butler. "Yep, but mine's Dixie Graydottir. Do you have some clothes I could change into? My uniform is a bit, well..." Robyn trailed off, gesturing to the rips in her costume, bloodstains still darkening the edges of the larger ones. She'd bandaged the scrapes that need attention back at Mount Justice, but if wearing the soiled clothing was unnecessary, the teen intended to change as soon as possible.

"Of course, Mistress. You'll find a set of attire for sleep on the bench around that corner. Afterwards, perhaps I may show you to where you'll be staying for the duration of your... visit."

Robyn froze on her way to the changing area. "Um, are you going to have me sleep in a guest room, or...?"

"I have prepared both Master Dick's bedroom and a spare one down the hall; the choice is yours."

The teen nodded and continued on her way, mulling over the options in her head. Use a room that so definitely belonged to someone else, familiar as it may be, or crash someplace more neutral that she probably wouldn't be comfortable in. Asterous.

Once Robyn had gone out of sight and hearing, Alfred allowed his usual expression to melt into something closer to concern.

"May I ask what is going through your mind as of now, Master Bruce?" He asked quietly. Sighing, the other man tugged off his cowl, revealing the worry in his eyes.

"As much as part of me wants to help R- Dixie, adjust, I need to get started figuring out how to find Dick and get him back."

"In that case, may I suggest calling in a bit of assistance for the young lady?"

-CC-

"I believe you two already know your way around, if this Mount Justice is indeed identical to your own." J'onn glanced back at the two teens trailing after him, and Superman at the rear of the group.

"Yes, it is." Mar'gann answered quickly. "Thank you for making sure we are settled in."

"Of course." The four of them came to a rest in the hangar of the base, where Sphere and Wolf were playing. Supergirl had already been introduced, and while the pair of taken-in beings had acted friendly, neither seemed to desire to stay in her presence any more than other members of Team.

The girl hadn't spoken a word since then. Now she just watched the two with a dim sort of sadness in her eyes, which seemed to be affecting her boyfriend as well. Both of the adult heroes noticed, but neither was sure how to help.

"So, do the two of you attend school in Happy Harbor?" Superman tried.

Mar'gann brightened slightly. "Yes! We're still getting back into the swing of things since Winter Break ended, though. I don't suppose... If our versions in this world have the same homework assignments, do you think we could work on them?"

"I, do not see why not." J'onn answered slowly, brows furrowing. "I doubt my M'gann would mind."

"Connor probably wouldn't either." Really, that was a haphazard guess on Superman's part, but he figured no one liked homework any. Well, make that anyone aside from martians.

"If you don't mind me asking, do you guys think you could share the names you use as secret identities?" He continued.

"Oh of course! I go by Morgan Morse, and she's Cailin Kent. And, um, J'onn? There was one more thing I hoped to ask before you left." Slowly, Supergirl dragged her eyes away from the depressing sight of Wolf and Sphere to gaze at the embarrassed sounding teen. "Are there- I mean, does this world's me- would she have the stuff to-"

"Bake?" Cailin supplied for her boyfriend. Mar'gann shot her a grateful glance before looking back at J'onn and Superman.

"Yes, I believe the kitchen is fully stocked and supplied. Feel free to check, and let me know if there is anything else you require." The younger martian beamed and flew off down the hallway, a bemused J'onn following more slowly. That left the two Kryptonians standing by themselves in the hanger.

"So..." Superman attempted, several times, to get out a suitable opening sentence for a conversation with the teen before him, to no avail. She watched him suffer in silence for a minute or two, keeping an eyebrow raised and one corner of her mouth quirked upwards.

"You are just as awkward as Claire. Maybe more." Blinking, the Man of Steel seized upon those words gratefully.

"Well, um, I haven't had much practice with Connor yet, and now, this." He gestured blindly, but Cailin got it.

"New Year's Eve?" She asked suddenly, tilting her head slightly to one side. The older hero nodded, a brief expression of shame crossing his features.

"I sorry to say how long it took me just to be willing to try and be present in his life." He murmured quietly, so much so that Cailin was glad she had the super-hearing to catch it. "But waking up from that battle, with the Team and Tornado explaining all that had happened... And afterwards, when we saw some of the footage of the fights... I realized just how much he'd progressed in the few months since being taken- _freed,_ from Cadmus, and it suddenly became clear that I wanted to help him do more. _Be,_ more, I suppose."

"Wonder if that's what Claire felt, too." Cailin muttered aloud, without meaning to. All of a sudden, she felt a warm hand clasp her shoulder, and the teen looked up into a kind gaze.

"I don't doubt it for a minute." Clark said firmly, and Cailin felt her heart swell a little more with affection for the woman back home who'd only so recently begun to make an effort to share her life.

"Now, I don't suppose you've already visited my parents in your world, have you? Because the ones here are determined to meet you now."

"You called them?" The surprise was obvious in her voice.

"Actually, they called me, after hearing from Mary West. Once Ma got past fussing at me, she wanted to know when we'd be arriving. I figured you'd want to sleep here at least, but maybe we can head out in the morning?"

"Sounds good to me." Despite all the differences between them, both Clark and Cailin had the same smile stretch across their faces when she replied.

-CC-

When Iris West-Allen opened the back door of her brother's house, she was prepared to meet a female version of Wally.

She was not expecting to see a younger version of _herself._

Because that's exactly who this Willow West looked like. Granted, she had a few more freckles splashed across her face, and the grin was a touch more lopsided, but aside from those details, it was like looking at an old photograph. Even Willow's hair was braided, a style Iris had been quite fond of back in her high school days.

"And this would be Uncle-turned-Aunt Ivan, right?" The joking tone, though, was all Wally.

"Ah, yeah, this is my wife, Iris." Barry said with a slight cough. He gently reached out to nudge her, and Iris swiftly got her bearings back.

"Come on in, Willow, the others are in the living room, waiting for us." Both speedsters zipped inside, and Iris closed the door firmly. She took another moment to breath before heading after them.

Rudolph and Mary were just finishing introducing themselves as she walked in. Grinning, Willow promptly flopped back onto the sofa, right in the center just as Wally would do, resting her elbows up and on the back. The adults settled into their seats a bit more gingerly - Barry and Ruddy to armchairs, Iris and Mary on either end of the sofa.

"I really appreciate you folks letting me crash here," The teen started off with. "I know some of my friends will be fine at the Mountain, but there are those of us who can handle this mess a lot better with proper nutrition! No offence intended towards Mar'gann, he bakes a mean batch of cookies, but those and protein bars do _not _make for an A-game speedster, eh, Aunt- er, Uncle B?" Even the older hero had to blink at the rapid words pouring out of Willow's mouth.

"Um, right."

"And how are you... Handling it?" Iris asked gently. Willow responded with a lazy grin, leaning back further into her sprawl on the sofa.

"Oh, _I'm_ fine, probably doing a lot better than a couple of the others. Nothin' to worry about here." She told them cheerfully. The four adults all exchanged glances.

"Willow... You are an alternate version of my son. And I know him well enough to tell when he's putting on an act." Mrs. West spoke slowly, cautiously. "When life throws a massive curveball his way, Wally's first response isn't to fold, but to muster up a grin and pretend he isn't bothered at all. I think you're the exact same way, and that this," She gestured to the room around them, and by extension the entire flipped-around universe, "Is scaring you a lot more than you want to admit."

In an instant, Willow's grin faded, and her previously loose muscles tightened almost imperceptibly. "You- and your point?" She asked with a bit of a tremble in her voice. Iris and Mary both scooched a little closer to the teen on the sofa, while Rudolph and Barry exchanged a glance from their respective seats.

"To put it simply, Kid... since we're the ones who know Wally well enough to figure out what's going on in _your _head, we're also the ones it's okay to be yourself around." Barry offered.

"There's no reason to hide from us, Willow." Rudolph put in, a small smile making it's way onto his face. And that- that was enough for the teen hero's emotional wall to crumble, and she hunched forward, arms wrapping around her middle as choked sobs and and shudders began. Immediately, the women beside her moved in with comforting words and embraces. At one point, Iris shot a look at her brother and husband, silently ordering them to join the huddle.

Even without the warning of what would happen if they didn't, neither man had it in his heart to not try and help the crying teenager feel better.

Soon enough, Willow would be back to smiling and laughing, especially if her teammates were around - someone had to put on a brave face for the others. But here, in the safety of her alternate family's arms, she could admit to the stress and fear that were constantly wound up inside.

Sometimes, everyone just needed to let it out.

_Hoo boy, four chapters in less than two days - I think I'm on a roll with this story! And all the views and favorites help a great deal, so keep 'em coming!_

_Also, special thanks to my good friend Aisling Moon, who saw fit to mention me in her latest posting of Alone Together (a very good Dick Grayson story, go read it!), so now I'm returning the favor._

_Get ready for more emotional moments, but also some funnies, and I promise, the next post will push the plot along: we'll be seeing who besides the Team got sent across the dimensional barrier..._

_-Triscribe_


	5. Chapter 5

Beautiful. That was the only way to describe Atlantis. Beautiful, peaceful, serene...

And utterly wrong.

Everywhere in the city of Poseidonis that Kaldura'ehm went, the statuary, the murals, and most of all the people were reversed from what they should be. There was a school of mer-children that she would often pass in the Coral Gardens - they were here too, every last one, but each was different. Many times, she received odd looks from people, those who she was sure would have recognized her male counterpart, and the effect was disconcerting, to say the least.

Kaldura almost wished Robyn of Kid Flash was here to make some joking remark, and help take her mind off of it. But that was selfish thinking, a needy remark from a leader who needed to be strong.

When she eventually returned to the Royal Palace, Kaldura was officially sick of this Atlantis. The guards had been instructed to give her the same respect as they would Aqua_lad,_ so there were no covert stares here, but that hardly made her feel any better.

At home, the majority of palace guards were female - and here, they were not.

Unbidden, the powerful strokes of her legs began to slow as she approached the quarters of Queen O- no, _King _Orrin, and _Queen _Meera. Both of the monarchs had shown her such kindness, Kaldura was not sure how to tell them she wished to return to the surface so soon. Voices from the chamber had her slow even more, the unfortunate habit of eavesdropping she had picked up from numerous Team missions.

"... Think you can help?"

"Of course, my queen, we'd be honored to!"

"Is she really just Kaldur, but in different form? Ow!"

"Be nice, Garth." Despite the new sinking feeling within her gut, Kaldura put on a burst of speed to enter the chamber.

It seemed that her best friends had indeed changed as well. The two sorcery apprentices were speaking to Queen Meera by the balcony at the far end of the room. Now in the clear stages of pregnancy, the monarch had been spending fewer of her days teaching, and more of them simply relaxing within the palace as the child within her grew.

At home, it was her own Queen Orina who had only recently accepted that she needed to take a step back from League missions and focus on running the queendom until she gave birth to the desperately needed heir. King Meer had rarely left her side, and it was falling more to Aqualass to represent Atlantic upon the surface world.

She decided that this, at least, seemed to be slightly different between worlds.

"Ah! Kaldura'ehm! I did not expect to you return so soon. How did you find the city?" The queen called to her, the pair of apprentices turning in surprise.

"As lovely as my own, Queen Meera, though to differences were enough to cause me to put an end to the sight-seeing for today."

"Of course, my apologies. I had wondered if you would know these two, by any chance."

"Indeed, my lady. Although, I know them as Graeth and Tulon." The girl laughed and swam over to her.

"Well, I want to hear everything about your world, Kaldura, but first you should know: my name is Tula, and this is Garth." The other Atlantean nodded as he moved a little closer. "Now, are the schools of magic really the same at your home as here?"

Kaldura felt a twitch of a smile at the genuine wonder in Tula's eyes. "From what I have seen so far, yes."

"Amazing," She breathed. "What about the cities? The different peoples? Oh! And the surface world, as well! I've been trying to get our Kaldur to tell me more about it, but I promise that if you are as tight gilled as he, this will not go well."

Now Aqualass could not help but chuckle. She's thought that meeting the couple in this world would be painful, which was part of the reason she did not speak to them as much at home, but now... Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to share some stories.

And for the next several hours, Kaldura felt no desire for the cheerfulness of her teammates - she had more than enough of her own.

-CC-

When the zeta tubes announced Rocket's arrival, Zetenni and Mar'gann glanced at each other in surprise. They weren't expecting any of the others back until that evening.

As it was, the martian was in the process of pulling out various supplies for lunch, while the magician was resting his leg on the sofa. He clicked off the television just as their teammate came stomping into the kitchen area.

"Hey Rickon, what's..." Mar'gann trailed off as the teen did nothing but march around the island counter, silently fuming. "...Wrong?"

"That woman!" He finally yelled. "Every time I turn around, it's: how are your grades in school, dear? Have you had enough to eat? Are you sure you don't want seconds? Didn't you like the food? What's a nice boy like you doing in that superhero business anyway?"

The other two exchanged a glance as Rocket continued to spew out the massive list of questions and inquiries he'd apparently gone through in the last half a day.

"Um, Rick, doesn't your grandpa bug you the exact same way?" Zetenni finally asked.

"Yeah, but at least from him I'm used to it! I can't connect with this woman! I don't know how the me of this world managed it!"

"Probably with time and patience the same way you did back home. That is how, right?"

"Well. Yeah. I just kind of got used to it over the years. But I don't want to be here that long!"

"And I'm sure these people want their own Team back just as badly as we want to get back to our own world!" Mar'gann threw right back to him. "Red Tornado told me this morning that this League is already examining the plant ruins to see if they can figure out everything that was involved in the explosion."

"So, what, are they gonna reverse engineer the residue on some twisted metal scraps?" Despite the heat in which it was delivered, all three boys deflated at that statement.

Mar'gann returned to fixing lunch, Zetenni turned the T.V. back on, and Rocket sat on the sofa beside him with a sigh.

"Sorry, guys," He eventually said.

"It's okay." They chorused. About an hour later, the teleportation device sounded again, and it was Apollo who next entered the kitchen.

Mar'gann nearly dropped his plate of sandwiches. "Whoa. For a second there, I thought you'd gotten back your usual outfit!"

"Not quite, but it's close enough." The archer agreed. "Paula is one seriously awesome woman." He didn't notice the quick exchange of grins between the others as he opened the cabinet for a mug. It wasn't until he was halfway through making a cup of tea that Apollo halted his movements and blinked.

"Daaang. I didn't even slow down to check where this stuff was."

"I know! Isn't it awesome?" Mar'gann beamed. "She has everything I do back home, and in all the same spots too! I'm planning on fixing a big dinner tonight to use up all her perishables, and tomorrow when Cailin gets back we'll go into town to get more."

Apollo chuckled. "And here Willow was worrying about just surviving on energy bars if she stayed at the Mountain. So, who else is going to be coming for this dinner?"

"Just us, I think. Cailin's visiting the Kents right now, Kaldura's still in Atlantis, Flash called and said Willow would be staying in Central until tomorrow morning... And I have no idea about Robyn."

"Hope the kid's alright." Rocket muttered from the couch. One of Mar'gann's spoons levitated through the air to gently whack him on the back of the head. "Ow! What gives?" He shut up when Apollo looked pointedly at Zetenni, who had gone from watching the television to staring mournfully at the bandage on his leg.

"Everything's been the same for us so far, why shouldn't it be the same case as with her?" Reasoned Mar'gann.

"But the Bat here doesn't seem to be any more emotional than the one back home." The young magician murmured. "I just hope she's got someone to lean on a little."

-CC-

After trying and failing to get some sleep in the guest bedroom that first night, Dixie had decided to switch the the more familiar setting. At first, it was fine - when she'd crashed with sleep deprivation, anyway. Now, sometime in the early morning hours, a big thunderstorm had rolled in and Dixie was very much on edge.

It was _her room-_ it _was_, but at the same time, it _wasn't._

Dixie tried to repress another shudder as the lightning flashed again outside her window, but couldn't help the muffled squeak as the roll of thunder shook the walls of the mansion. Whenever there was a storm this bad back home, and they weren't out on patrol, she'd usually creep down the hall to Breanna's room and curl up by the foot of the woman's bed for an hour or two. Sometimes, when she was younger and still working at moving silently, her foster-mother would awaken at Dixie's light footsteps. Secretly, the girl had liked those occasions best, as Breanna would then scoop up her small form and deposit her under the covers. Then the two of them would fall asleep in each other's warmth, easily able to block out the storm raging above.

But that wasn't an option here.

So, Dixie settled for the next best thing. Slipping out from the tangled sheets and comforter, she headed out the bedroom door and in the direction of the study.

Entering the darkened room, Dixie approached the massive grandmother clock, and reached up to adjust the hands on its intricately decorated face. She breathed a sigh of relief at the quiet click, before the entire thing slid on hidden tracks to one side and revealed the stone passageway.

Another thunderclap prompted her to hurry down the steps, bare feet not making a sound. Finally, she burst out onto the main floor of the cave, not noticing the pair of figures who fell silent by the computer.

Different levels of the water-carved rock served as resting places for everything from spare equipment to trophies to the multitude of vehicles. A shaky sigh of relief fell from Dixie's lips as she decided to stay down here for the remainder of the storm - her home beneath home.

But a stab of despair lanced through her with that thought again: it _was,_ but it _wasn't._

Shoulders slumping in defeat, she was about to turn around and go back upstairs, storm or not, when a quiet set of footsteps behind her caught the girl's attention.

"Hi there... Dixie, right?" She stiffened, turning slowly to face the owner of the voice. The woman standing there, just a few feet away from her, looked so much like Breanna it made Dixie's heart ache with a new level of pain and frustration and grief. Her catsuit was pretty much skin tight, a coiled whip and leather utility belt both hanging from her thin waist, though neither looked as dangerous as the clawed gloves she wore. But despite the weapons, the woman's warm eyes boring into her made Dixie think that there was a soft side to this cat. That thought caused to her realize that this must be the female version of Cedric, especially if the almond shaped goggles resting on the pointy-eared cowl were anything to go by.

"My name's Selina, and I understand you've been having a hard time lately...?" Catwoman trailed off, looking expectantly at the slim, dark-haired girl who wore an expression caught somewhere between longing and apprehensiveness. Bruce had asked her to come provide some emotional support, but how on earth was she supposed to do that if this girl acted even more closed off than Dick had in his early days as Robin?

"Look, I get that you're still trying to take it all in, but if you need anything, feel free to- _oof!"_ Selina barely had time to register the small body hurtling towards her before the impact. Then there were thin arms wrapping themselves around her, and mournful sobs making their muffled presence known, and the shaking, shivering form pressed against her that just needed to be held.

After only the barest moment of hesitation, Selina returned the hug wholeheartedly, letting the overwhelmed bird cry to her heart's content. And in the end, that was about all she could really do.

-CC-

"The League arrived too quickly for us to seize the eight other anomalies, but we were able to recover the ninth." Luthor explained as he walked down the hall of the underground facility. "Apparently, none of them thought to check that the children were the only beings transported here.

Vandal Savage nodded, understanding easily just how distracted the heroes could be when their precious Team was involved. He'd received the call earlier that day from his fellow member of the Light, and had come now to see just what his scientists had found.

Deranged laughter echoing down the hall did not phase him in the slightest.

When the two men reached a room that looked more like a waiting area than a lab, Savage refused to let himself be disturbed by the owner of the laughter, either.

"Hello, boys! So sweet of you to come visit Auntie J!"


	6. Chapter 6

"Joker, I presume." Savage rumbled, crossing her arms behind his back.

"Ooh, goody, it's Vadie!" The bone white woman tilted her head almost ninety degrees, staring at him with an odd glint in her eyes. "Although... Not the Vadie _I _know. I think I like this one even better than you, Lexi old boy." The businessman refused to acknowledge the remark, instead taking a seat across from the mad clown. Curly green hair bounced as she swiveled in her chair to follow his motion.

"I'm sure you remember our proposition from earlier, Joker." He began smoothly.

"Yap, yap, yap, something about helping you ninnies track down those goody two shoes brats I was fighting before things got _really _crazy." She kicked up her feet to rest leather shoes upon the table they sat at. "Although, Lexi, after that nasty trick you goobers pulled on the seven of us, I'm wondering why I should pitch in with another group effort."

"We can make it worth your while. I'd assumed you were satisfied with the dollar amount from our last business deal."

"Oh, phooey with your money, Lexi! I've got enough of that left I don't need more." Pouting now, the clown waved an affronted hand in his direction, the other one fiddling with her suit's lapel.

Savage felt it was time for him to step in. "Then what would interest you?" Slowly, Joker turned her head to look up at him, a truly massive grin distorting her face.

"When we catch the kiddies," The madwoman practically purred. "You let me spend some one on one time with my favorite birdie."

-CC-

"How was Gotham?"

"Oh, you would not believe it, Zee - I looked in the closet of this world's me, and he has literally the same clothes that I do. Same style, same colors, even the same size! I'm just short back home, but this kid has to be scrawny compared to his teammates here."

"Ouch. That's gotta be annoying to live with."

Robyn shrugged. "Eh, from what I've seen, it probably doesn't bother him too much. And if he's anything like me, the guy makes up for it by messing with his friends." Zetenni snorted at that, still focusing in putting one foot in front of the other. Robyn had just come in from the zeta tubes to find the magician slowly walking around the Mountain, testing his wounded leg.

"Think it's getting better?" She asked now.

"Yeah... The gash itself is pretty much closed up, I'm just seeing how long I can put weight on it before I fall over." Chuckling, Robyn slipped an arm around Zee's waist.

"Well, let me know before that happens, and I'll help you get back to the kitchen so Mar'gann can fuss over you."

Zetenni rolled his eyes. "Thanks for that, Rob."

"Anytime."

When Willow teleported in a little while later, she ran straight for the kitchen and narrowly avoided crashing into Apollo.

"Hey, Babe! Didja miss me?"

The archer glared at her, miffed over his nearly-dropped plate. "Only a little." Willow's face fell, and Apollo had to correct himself. "Okay, more than that, but it kind of goes out the window when you almost make me spill my food."

"Ooh, what have you got there!" The speedster gasped. "Gingerbread men!"

"Mar'gann made it before he left with Cailin to do some shopping. Both of them look like they're doing okay." Apollo explained even as his red haired companion wolfed down half of the cookies on his plate.

"Ohmygosh, these are good!" At least, that's what he thought Willow said. It came out more like _Oormigush shese rgud!_ around the gingerbread. Once the speedster swallowed, her words came out a bit more clearly. "I thought he said we wouldn't be getting any more of those until _next _Christmas?"

"Special circumstances, Baywatch." Willow stuck her tongue out at him for the old nickname.

"I wanna know when you're gonna stop calling me that."

"Probably the day they invent a time machine and you stop yourself from running into the Mountain with your arms full of stuff for a beach party, wearing only a bikini."

"I couldn't help it that I was late!"

The two continued to bicker cheerfully as the Bioship touched down in the hangar where Rocket was waiting. As the hatch opened, the teen stepped forward, expecting to be handed an armful of groceries. Instead, he was shocked as Supergirl hurried down, a stumbling Martian Junior supported in her arms.

"What happened?" Rocket asked in alarm. Cailin glanced up at him, her eyes full of fear and concern.

"I don't know. He won't talk to me!" The clone reined back the desperation in her voice, carefully guiding her hazy-eyed boyfriend across the hangar floor. "Call J'onn, or Tornado, or somebody!"

Just like his namesake, Rocket flew off down the hallway towards the mission room where he could call a Leaguer or three. By the time he got there, Aqualass was just coming in through the zeta tube, and their other four teammates were gathered on the training platform.

"Guys! Something's wrong with Mar'gann!"

-CC-

"So, what have you figured out?" Selina asked, leaning against the chair Bruce was currently brooding in.

"Not a thing." He growled, slamming a fist down on the one spot of the desk that didn't have any buttons or controls - probably specifically left there just for that purpose, Selina mused to herself. "The information the Team was able to gather only detailed what materials were coming and failing - the mixture that brought them here was new, not fully recorded or tested. Replicating it's effects to switch them back is next to impossible."

"Good thing you're the best at doing that: beating the odds, I mean." Bruce merely grunted at her words, causing Selina's own frown to deepen. "Look, you'll figure something out, I know you will."

The Bat was about to respond when an alert started beeping from one of the screens. Scowling, Bruce reached out to accept it - and felt his eyes widening.

"What is it?" Selina asked, not recognizing the scientific jumble.

"There's an energy surge sweeping the country, and it's signature matches that of the explosion that exchanged the Teams." His fingers began rapidly flying across the keyboard and holo-screen, checking data points and configuring equipment to begin analyzing the energy.

Bruce didn't slow down until several minutes after the surge dissipated, and he'd gotten all the information he could.

"This could be the key," He muttered at one point, and Selina could detect the hint of hope creeping back into his voice. She still had no clue what had just happened, but it seemed things were looking up for getting Robin and his teammates back home.

That hope was forgotten when a message came in from Mount Justice.

-CC-

_*Mar'gann, can you hear me?*_

_*Y-yes... What... What happened?*_

_*That is what we would like to know.* _Slowly, the young martian opened his eyes, blearily taking in the ring of concerned faces around him. All of his teammates were there, along with several League members. Mar'gann realized he was being supported on the rec room couch by Cailin, who looked like she wanted to both collapse from relief and strangle him for scaring her.

"Um... Hi?" He squeaked, and his girlfriend sighed, but settled for hugging him.

"I am glad you have awoken, Mar'gann, but can you tell us what happened to you?" J'onn asked gently. The younger martian brought a hand to rest against his forehead, and winced at how sore he felt.

"We... We were going to get groceries... But there was this... _Wave._" He shuddered slightly. "It felt like the explosion, at the plant, but, darker. I heard laughter, evil laughter. And it was gone in an instant, but I felt so weak..."

"He barely managed to put the bioship in manual steering before he collapsed." Cailin added. "I got us back here as fast as I could."

"My scanners picked up an energy surge just before you called." Batman said from across the room. "From what I could tell, it was sent out from a medical facility not far from the plant where you all were switched."

"Meaning that someone might be trying to repeat what happened?" Kid Flash asked.

"Or trying to find us, since we're the ones who actually crossed the dimensional barrier." Robyn pointed out. "Either way, we need to look into it."

There was silence for a few moments as the adults exchanged glances, which the teens watched warily.

Just as Green Arrow opened his mouth to speak, Apollo beat him to the punch. "Oh, please tell me you guys aren't thinking of trying to get us to stay put." The apologetic glance was enough to send the teen into a rage. "Come on! I know we might not be the Team you're used to, but haven't they at least proven that they, and by extension, _we _don't deserve to be treated like mushrooms?!"

"What?" Aquaman couldn't help but ask, baffled.

"Kept in the dark and fed bullsh-"

"Robyn." Batman warned, cutting her off. "It's not a matter of having proved yourselves, it's about avoiding playing into the enemies hands, as we have unfortunately in the past."

"Which we got you out of," Kid Flash muttered darkly, arms crossed. Again, several of the adults looked to each other, until Superman sighed.

"We'll go there tonight." He said. "_All_ of us."


	7. Chapter 7

True to his word, Superman managed to talk the rest of the League into letting the Team come with them. The facility, when they arrived, appeared to be nothing more than a rectangular three story structure, with windows lining the upper floors. A handful of lights shown at one end of the building, but the place was officially closed down for the night.

_*Is it just me, or does this place look more like Cadmus than a treatment center?*_ Kid Flash asked.

_*I wouldn't know, Baywatch, but it definitely doesn't seem family-friendly.*_

_*Apollo is right.*_ Aqualass thought, her eyes narrowing. _*Though their records claim this to be a facility for testing and treating various illnesses, I believe we do indeed have another case of something sinister hidden in plain site.*_

_*Think you guys can hold off on the chatter for a minute? Batman and I are almost in.*_ Robyn didn't sound particularly annoyed, but the others could recognize when she needed to concentrate, and held off on speaking through the mind link.

"How much longer?" Captain Marvel muttered, rubbing his hands together. The Green Lanterns glanced at him; Hal chuckled, while John just shook his head. The Thanagarians twitched their wings as they waited, Flash and KF quietly bouncing in place. All around a two block radius of the facility, most the League and the Team were poised, ready to go whenever the signal came from those already inside.

_* Robyn, J'onn and I have reached the central elevator. There doesn't seem to be any sign of it extending to lower levels.*_

_*Just hang tight there for a second, Junior, we're on our way.* _Suddenly, a wave of startled horror came from both Robyn and Mar'gann.

_*Guys, it's a-* _The mental link went down.

And the building exploded.

-CC-

_I am evil. Very evil; I'm going to be heading out on a road trip for the next several days, with little to no internet access, and here I'm leaving you all with a horribly short post with an awful cliffhanger._

_..._

_Blame Aisling Moon. I think she and I are entering a competition to see who can be the best suspense-builder._

_Anyway, I should be back by Sunday night, and will have a new post or two up by Monday night. So, until then, have a Happy New Year!_

_-Triscribe_


	8. Chapter 8

The building exploded, and everyone froze in shock. Then the ten metal monsters came screaming into the open air, and Wonder Woman was the first to recover.

"Everyone, charge!" She yelled over the com link, and then the area devolved into chaos.

The pair of speedsters charged the nearest robot, which looked like a combination of a spider with a tank, long legs supporting a heavily armed and armored center. The thing was moving fast, firing a plasma cannon at them, forcing Flash and KF to separate and go around the monster. They threw out vibrating hands, trying to shake the thing up a bit, but as soon as they got close the metal plating started crackling with electricity. The speedsters pulled back their limbs and tried to figure out another strategy as Aquaman and Aqualass joined them on a wave of water from a nearby fire hydrant.

Zooming through the air above, Rocket homed in on a robot that reminded him of a swordfish, except that it had wings and was launching metal nets and cables at the heroes around it. One such net came straight at him, prompting the teen to pull up and activate his force bubble. The shudder from impact nearly had him lose concentration, especially when the tendrils of the net started wrapping around his sphere.

"Rocket! Move!" Icon bellowed, coming in to grasp the cables and pull them away from his alternate partner. As soon as there was enough of a gap, Rocket took down his shield and hurried away from the grasping tendrils.

"I'm clear!" He called, and Icon tightened his grip, pulling the robot out of its trajectory and swinging down towards the ground. It smashed into the monster the speedsters and Atlanteans had been trying to disable, and the four waved up in acknowledgement to him.

Supergirl hated monkeys. So glaring at the robot charging her down, built like a lithe primate with three stinger-tipped tails, she growled and summoned up as much anger and frustration as she could.

And then channeled all of it into her fist and down at the monster's head. It compacted with an awful _crump _sound, but the body kept moving. Supergirl twisted her body, managing to just barely get out of the thing's path - only for one of the tails to lash out and stab through her left leg. Gasping at the unexpected pain, the clone was dragged along several yards before Captain Marvel caught the robot and held it in place. Then there was a flurry of motion as someone landed beside her and ripped away the now bloody tail

"Oh, Hera," Wonder Woman breathed as she took in the wound, and the harsh green glow emerging from cracks in the appendage she gripped. "Superman! Stay away from this one, it has kryptonite in the stingers!"

"_What?_" The Man of Steel's startled voice came over her comm. link. "Where's Cailin?!"

"I have her, but she's been injured, so I'm taking her to the Bioship." Rising into the air, the Amazon princess flew towards the secluded spot a few blocks away where the vehicle was waiting in camouflage mode. She didn't get very far before another robot broke away from the tag-teaming Lanterns and Thanagarians, and made straight for her.

This one had the appearance of a dragon, and opened its mouth to begin firing massive energy blasts at the Amazon. She ducked and swerved as much as was possible with the injured teen in her arms, but eventually Wonder Woman was caught by the backlash of an explosion hitting the ground. Tumbling away, Supergirl was torn away by the impact, and the two of them ended up a fair distance away from each other.

Cailin shakily raised her head as the dragon landed right in front of her and several of its chest plates began to whir and shift. Her eyes widened as an opening was created, revealing two grabber arms that extended from the robot and began to reach for her.

_WHAM!_

Superman landed on top of the limbs, smashing them flat into the ground.

"You want to back off now." He snarled to the dragon, before launching forward and knocking the massive thing over. Cailin felt a grin cross her face, even as she dropped her head back to the soot-streaked ground.

When the explosion went off, Apollo and Green Arrow had hurried to skirt around the battlefield, shooting at the robots but mainly running for the burning building. When he skidded to a stop beside what had been the main entrance, the teen was unsurprised to find his friend Zetenni desperately moving rubble away.

"Senots elbmurc!" He yelled, causing the jagged piles in front of him to shatter into pebbles and dust. Once the way was clear enough, Apollo laid a hand on the slim magician's shoulder, silently telling him to wait. Then the pair of archers slipped inside to start searching for their missing teammates.

"Bombs must have been situated in the middle of the building, for the fallout to look like this." Arrow muttered. Apollo winced - the martians were supposed to have been at the central elevator, with the other two not far behind them. The two of them managed to get past some lines of flames with minimal singing, avoiding the weakened sections of wall and ceiling, trying to get to where the infiltrators had last been.

A sudden rumbling made them pause in place.

Harsh red lights flickered on at the end of the damaged hallway, and both archers were forced to dive to either side as another robotic monster rolled past at break-neck speed. Apollo caught a brief glimpse of a rhinoceros like outline, but with off-road tires instead of legs.

"Zetenni! Get out of the way!" The teen yelled desperately over the roaring of the flames and the deep rumbles of the robot. Back at the opening, the young magician readied himself.

"Tfil dna worht!" He growled when the monster machine was almost upon him. The tires left the ground, soaring up into the air over Zetenni's head, then started to turn sideways as the mystic force threw the robot onto the ground again. It smashed hard, bouncing and rolling for a little ways. On one last landing, the central body of the thing broke open, and a limp green form dressed in blue and black came falling out.

"Mar'gann," He breathed, raising a hand to activate the League communicator tucked within his ear. "Guys! I think these things are trying to kidnap the Team-" Sharp pain from his wound caused the magician to interrupt his own words with a cry.

"Tel, tel og." The words were weak, but there was enough power behind them to force the tendril that had grabbed him to release its hold from his leg. A whirring noise from behind him had Zetenni ducking just in time. Steel cables retracted again into the monster that came around the corner of the wrecked building. This one had multiple cable limbs extending from a central cone that, even as Zee watched, began to spin in place. The cables extended out and hardened, moving so quickly that they formed a deadly fan that started moving towards him at a sprint. With his still sore leg, it was all the magician could do to duck and try to dodge.

A tendril of water snaked its way under the fan and around the central cone, then tightened into a cord that pulled the robot off course. Zetenni fell against the rubble, breathing heavily, as Aqualass' waterbearers and Aquaman's fists managed to tear apart the spinning monster. Then the grown hero was helping him up as Kaldura headed for Mar'gann.

"League, we need to keep these robotic monsters from leaving the field of battle." Aquaman said sternly into his own communicator. "Zetenni is correct, they have specialized weapons and containers for the removal of the Team."

"Then we need to get them out of here." Captain Atom replied. "Black Canary, Plastic Man, circle around to Aquaman's position and head for the Bioship. Superman, stop punching the dragon, grab Supergirl and fly, Rocket and Icon follow him. Flash and Kid Flash either run on your own steam or get to the Bioship as well, Green Arrow-"

"We can't leave the building just yet, Atom - Apollo and I found J'onn, he's down for the count. And Robyn and Batman are still in this mess somewhere."

"Then we'll help find them." Kid Flash said, and before anyone could say otherwise, she and Flash had run past Zetenni and Aquaman.

"Speedsters," The King of Atlantis muttered, even as Black Canary reached their position. She spared a quick glance of concern towards the opening, then moved to help Aqualass lift the unconscious Martian Junior.

-CC-

Robyn couldn't help a slight groan as pain was the first thing she registered upon waking up. So not asterous.

Carefully cracking open her eyelids, the teen scanned her surroundings. Square room, plain grey walls, darker grey door without a lock or even a handle. Next Robyn turned her attention to herself. Metal restraints holding her arms behind her back, and keeping her fingers in immobile fists. That was new. Similar cuffs were around her ankles, attached so closely that walking would be impossible. Maybe she could manage a bunny hop...

Blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes, Robyn also noticed that her utility belt was gone. No surprise there. Only idiots ever forgot to remove it, and the people who'd set up the trap at the facility were definitely not idiots.

Up and down her body, Robyn could feel the bump and bruises from her brutal impact through one wall and into another, courtesy of the unexpected explosion. Batman had thrown himself over her, preventing any burns or cuts from shrapnel, but even he couldn't defend against knocks to the head.

The teen sighed, hoping that wherever she was being held, the others weren't prisoners as well. With luck, they'd all gotten away, and were even now planning a rescue, because it was pretty clear she'd need an extreme amount of luck, nothing short of a miracle, to get out this place by herself. Nothing to do now but sit back and wait for something to happen.

Almost as though her thoughts had been spoken aloud, a speaker system crackled to life, emitting a chaotic laugh reserved just for Robyn's worst days and nightmares.

"Hello there, little birdie! Guess who got to come along to this world just to treat you to a taste of home!"

Scratch what she'd thought before - Robyn would need a miracle just to get out of here alive.

_Guess who's trip got horribly cut short? Darn blasted cold fronts and their rotten timing..._

_Hope you guys appreciate this chapter - took me forever just to work out the kinks in it. I might get another update posted this evening, or it might not happen until tomorrow; all depends on how motivated I am this afternoon to write._

_So, read, review, let me know what you all think! Audience feedback is very important for motivating these fingers to fly across my keyboard._

_-Triscribe_


	9. Chapter 9

Apollo threw another shoe at the wall. He'd feel bad later about trashing the room, but if "Artemis" did the same to his, the teen would totally understand.

Last night had been a disaster. And as a certain thirteen year old would say, _heavy_ on the dis. The robotic monsters they'd seen and fought had all been destroyed, but not without pretty serious damages in return. Martian Manhunter was still comatose from the burns he was covered in, while Wonder Woman, Hawkman, and the Green Lantern John Stewart all had broken bones from various crash landings (or in the case of the Thanagarian, broken wings). Nearly everyone else had cuts, burns or bruises that ranged from mild to nothing to laugh about. Supergirl and Martian Junior were among the next worse off, but the last time Apollo had seen them, the couple were being treated in the Mount Justice medical bay side by side, holding hands.

The worst of their failures, though, went hand in hand: after the excitement had begun to die down, Captains Atom and Marvel had gone through the ruins of the facility, finding an unconscious Batman lying where he'd clearly been tossed through a wall or two, but no sign of Robyn. And after the explosion, there was nothing to salvage in the way of information, making the entire mission pointless.

Kicking one of the twin beds, Apollo thought his mood couldn't get any fouler.

There was a knock at the front door.

Poking his head out into the hall, the teen was just in time to hear Paula answer it. "Oh, come in, Mr. Harper."

And just like that, the universe once again proved Apollo wrong.

A young man a few years older than him stepped around to the hall entrance, wearing jeans and a red and black jacket. If the name hadn't been enough to let Apollo know who this was, the ginger hair was.

"Guess I can't call you Reyna, huh?" He drawled, leaning against the doorframe.

An eyebrow went up as the guy looked him up and down. "It's Roy. Guess I can't call you Artemis, either." Grumbling, Apollo turned around to go sit on the bed he'd been using.

"What, exactly, do you want? I'm kind of busy." Harper followed him in, then stopped with wide eyes surveying the damage.

"Uh-huh. Busy ruining Arty's room? You better hope she doesn't find out about this before you go home, or I wouldn't bet on your continued existence."

Apollo muttered something incomprehensible, deciding not to bother glaring at the intruding archer.

"So where's your speedster friend?"

"Willow tripped inside the facility while she was looking for Robyn. Idiot's landed herself in the infirmary with a concussion."

"Well, at least speed healing out to take care of that pretty quick." Apollo just nodded in agreement. Roy looked at him closely before sighing. "Come one kid, you need some fresh air."

The younger teen glared at him half-heartedly, before sighing and rising from his seat. Waving to Paula, who'd retreated into the kitchen, the two of them said they'd be back soon, and slipped out the door.

Despite everything he'd gone through in the past few days, Apollo still couldn't help but walk through Gotham and think that there was nothing out of place. He started commenting on some of the things he recognized from back home, and Roy just let the younger teen ramble, making a noise of interest every now and then.

"Gerry's Grocery, geez, it looks just as beat up here as bad home. Bet the fresh-baked bread is just as good though. Oh, and there's the Rosado Building... We call it that 'cause of the giant extended family that live there, I'm pretty sure that they're from Ecuador. And this is the boundary of Triple H territory... Aw crap." Roy jerked his head up at Apollo's sudden curse. A little ways ahead of them, a group of lean muscled young men stood in the entrance of a grimy alley that looked like any other. One of the guys had noticed Apollo, and was staring at him with a puzzled frown. As Roy watched from the corner of his eye, the man reached over and nudged one of his buddies, pulling three of them out of their conversation.

"Who are those guys?" Roy muttered out of the side of his mouth.

Apollo responded in kind. "Back home, they're called Helga's Hottie Hellions, though I kind of doubt the name carries over. Typical jerks, and wannabe gangsters; I've managed to get on their bad side, stepping in to break up some bullying efforts and fights before they can go down."

"Is it possible that they recognize you, or are just signaling us out as potential victims?"

"I dunno - would you have known I was a male version of your fellow archer?" Roy had to admit, he would have believed it more if Apollo was in costume, but right now they were both dressed in civilian garb. Of course, regular clothes were what these thugs must be used to seeing.

"Maybe they just think you're a relative." The group of thugs, six in all, had moved out of their alley and onto the cracked sidewalk directly ahead of the two teens. "Either way, we've got trouble."

"Ya think?"

-CC-

Cailin stared at the ceiling of the medical bay, idling tracing the lines of the stone. She'd never been in this room before - at least, not as a patient. Visiting teammates while they had various injuries patched up, sure, but never actually laying on a berth with her own wound.

On the Watchtower, when exposed to kryptonite for the first time, the clone had been shocked by how much it had hurt, even in just those few seconds it took to disable and cure Superwoman.

Being stabbed by the stuff, though, was much worse. And evidently took much longer to recover from. Since Willow had been moved to the West household for her recovery, the room was deathly silent, and the clone desperately wished there was TV in here she could set to static in order to distract herself.

"Hey," A voice said weakly from her left. Cailin turned her head to look at Mar'gann on his own berth, who was _supposed_ to be sleeping. "Negative emotions impede recovery, you know."

"Something else from Hello Morgan?" The girl teased. Her boyfriend smiled back wanly.

"No, just common sense. And it's supposed to cheer you up."

Thinking about that, Cailin decided to take a risk. She checked first to make sure that they were really alone in the bay, then sat up. As the teen carefully swung her legs over the edge of her berth, being mindful of the bandaged one, Mar'gann's eyes widened.

"What are you doing?" He hissed in alarm. "You aren't supposed to be up and about yet!"

"I'm cheering myself up." Cailin replied, hopping on her uninjured leg to his berth. "Scoot over."

Mar'gann blinked in surprise, but did as she said. Once there was (barely) enough room, the other teen sat and then laid down beside him.

"No more negative emotions," She explained simply, wrapping an arm over her boyfriend's shoulders. Mar'gann smiled at her, and soon the two fell asleep in each other's embrace.

At the door to the medical bay, Superman shook his head, lips curling into an unintentional smile. He stepped inside just long enough to deposit the box of homemade food his Ma had insisted on the Man of Steel picking up for the injured teens. Then Superman returned to the zeta tubes, and headed for the Batcave.

He wasn't ashamed to say, the massive cavern always gave him the creeps. Super hearing meant that he picked up every flutter of bat wings or drip of condensation, and all the echoes that were created. Unable to understand how Batman could stand it, Superman just focused now on heading for the large computer where said man was furiously working.

Apparently, the swaths of bandages covering and supporting most of his arms, torso and legs weren't enough to dissuade the Dark Knight from his efforts. After waking up a few hours ago, the first thing Batman had done was ask about Robyn.

The Leaguers knew that would be the case, and had made sure the soon-to-be-enraged man was at home and being treated by his own people when it happened. Unsurprisingly, once Alfred told him the information that had been relayed by Superman and Flash upon delivering their injured comrade, Batman got off his bed and went straight for the computer.

"You know it was a trap, correct?" Typing furiously, there hadn't been any other indication of Batman knowing he'd arrived, just the flat out question.

"Yes; they must not have counted on the League being there along with the Team." Superman watched him in silence for a few moments more. "What, exactly, are you doing?"

"I'm trying to cross reference all the information about the two sites, and see what connects them. It could be a lead to finding what other bases of operation there might be, and where Robyn could have been taken." At mention of the girl's name, Batman paused and let out a sigh. "I tried to shield her when the explosion went off, but there's a likely chance she'd just as injured as I am. And I highly doubt whoever took her while be very interested in treating those wounds." Though it went unspoken, Superman could easily hear the concern in his friend's voice. Now, not only was the original Robin missing, but his alternate as well. And from the closeness he'd already gained with Cailin, the Kryptonian knew that Robyn must have grown on Batman as well.

It was impossible to not like the slim teen, no matter which of them was being referred to.


	10. Chapter 10

Roy couldn't believe his eyes. One minute, he and Apollo looked like they were about to get into a brawl with half a dozen gangsters, and now, one voice calling out from behind them was enough to get the men to freeze in place.

"Hello, boys."

"Yo, Jade!" The one in front replied, grinning widely. "Long time, no see, Hot Stuff."

"Ah, you always were the flatterer, Mills." Wearing her own form-fitting civilian clothes, Cheshire stepped up between the pair of startled archers, resting her elbows on their shoulders. "Now, why are you hunks looking to mess with my baby cousin and friend?"

The guy who'd initially noticed Apollo let out a huff. "_Knew_ he looked like Artemis..."

"No real reason, Hon. Kev just picked up on the family resemblance, and we wanted t'make sure no one was start somethin'."

"Pretty sure they were the ones about to start something," Apollo muttered under his breath. Jade's elbow moved from sitting on his shoulder to digging into his ribs.

"Hold up," The apparent leader, Mills, pointed at Roy. "This guy a friend of the kid's, or your's?"

"Well, as long as you're asking..." Jade turned her head, then leaned forward and met Roy's lips with her own. Instantly, Apollo's jaw dropped, and every single member of the gang focused their suddenly intense hostility onto Roy.

"I don't believe it," One of them groaned when the two finally separated. "Years of asking, and she never goes on a date with one of us..." Jade just grinned lazily at them.

"Takes the right time and place, boys. See ya!" She started to steer the two boys back around the way they'd come, but held off long enough to say one more thing. "Oh, and if I hear about any of you fellas giving my boyfriend trouble, you can be sure I won't be pleasant about correcting to behavior."

Roy didn't miss the way the gangsters paled at her words, though he waited until they were a few blocks away before commenting on it. "Where did the word "boyfriend" come from?"

"I decided you owe me a minimum of three dates for this," Jade slipped a box out of her pocket and held it up for them to see before continuing. "And that word just makes things simpler."

"For who?" Apollo cried indignantly. The assassin just chuckled, ruffling his blond hair before the teen pushed her away.

"What's in this, anyway? And why the increase of your price?" Roy felt he had to ask, taking the box.

"One date for the complete list of chemicals that resulted in the switching of the Teams. Another for samples of the rarer ones, which you'll need for getting this kid and his friends home and bringing back Artemis. And a third for the location where these nutjobs have been gathering the Astral energy to use in their experiments, which you'll need to get for yourself."

Apollo's eyes widened. "And maybe find Robyn!"

"Maybe. I'm not promising that, though, which is why it isn't four dates." She landed another kiss on Roy, then stepped back into a shadow filled alleyway. "Speaking of which, I'll meet you at Gordino's on 17th tonight. Seven thirty sharp, and while it's not pure white collar, make sure you wear something presentable." By the time Roy blinked, Jade was gone, and Apollo was gently thumping his head against the bricks.

"If I find out Reyna is dating Jaden back home, I swear I'll murder both of them." The younger archer growled.

"Quit worrying about that now, we've got to get this stuff to Batman!"

-CC-

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us when we crash this place?" Green Arrow asked, frowning. He only grew more perplexed at Roy's growl.

"I want to. I _really_ want to, but I can't."

"Why not?"

"I have... A date. And before you ask, it was the price of getting this stuff. I _might_ tell you the full story later, but _only_ if you promise not to laugh." Raised eyebrows were Ollie's only response before Roy waved his goodbyes to the Team and headed out the zeta tube.

"A _date?"_ He finally wondered.

"Trust me, you don't want to know." Apollo muttered, suddenly standing beside the older archer. "Now get over here, Batman's ready with the plan."

While Roy had called the Dark Knight with their news, the younger teen had gotten back into costume and gathered his teammates for the mission briefing they knew would come.

Because past failure aside, this endeavor concerned them even more than the League. This was about their getting home, as well as getting their missing member back.

Batman checked once to make sure the assembled Team and handful of Leaguers were ready. An earthquake on the West Coast was taking up the time of the other adult heroes, so this mission had to make due with the seven teens and most of their alternate mentors, along with Black Canary, Red Tornado, and himself.

"This is an aerial view of the target, disguised as an observatory in the Appalachian foothills. According to our information, security outside the base is minimal, focusing more on the interior of the main work and testing room, as well as the underground tunnels that house most of their supplies.

"For this attack, we'll separate into three groups: One squad to attack from above, and two others for sneaking into the depths of the base. Superman, Supergirl, Icon, Rocket, and Red Tornado, you five will land on the observatory roof, get it however you can, and proceed to create as big of a distraction as you can. Understood?" They nodded with varying degrees of vigour. "Flash, Kid Flash, Martian Junior, Aquaman, and Aqualass, the five of you will be entering from the eastern doors. Search through each level for the Astral energy samples before descending to the next one. Apollo, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Zetenni, and I will sneak through the delivery doors to the north, and once I hack into the base's security systems, our objective is to find Robyn. Any questions?"

"... What if she's not there?" Zetenni asked quietly, staring at the floor. Everyone looked back and forth between the young magician and Batman, who refused to show just how much that same question concerned him.

"Then the information we get off of their network should point in the direction of where she is being held." He said firmly. "Do your final checks, and we'll leave aboard the Bioship in five minutes."

-CC-

Fortunately, in the days before, Mar'gann had managed to convince the ship to trust him; his mind was close enough to M'gann's that she would accept his telepathic commands. The ride to the observatory took a little less than an hour and was spent in complete silence. No one liked contemplating Zetenni's question, but they couldn't stop thinking about it, either.

"We're here." Mar'gann finally announced, bringing the ship in a wide loop around the domed building to allow everyone a chance to see it.

"Now, this place actually looks like it's supposed to," Willow muttered, and Apollo had to agree. The observatory looked just like the name said - there was a telescope poking up from the roof and everything. "You don't think the information was wrong, do you?"

Before the archer could respond, said telescope started glowing with a blue-green light that hurt all the eyes watching it. After a few seconds where the light brightened it's intensity, it was launched out from the device in a long beam. A long moment of stretching out, and then the beam retracted, a thick lump with orange streaks now on the end of it. All the light vanished back inside the supposed-telescope, and just like that, the scene was back to normal.

"Nooo, Baywatch, I think this _is _the right place."

_Howdy, folks! Isn't this a lovely place to leave you hanging for a few days? Yeah, I thought so too._

_Unfortunately, my school year has begun again, which means my free time is about to decrease dramatically, and as a result postings will become much more sporadic. I really want to take the rest of this week, and possibly weekend, to build up a buffer of chapters before I keep updating._

_Now, I don't want to give anything away, but to answer some reviews, yes, we will be seeing a bit of the other dimension within the chapter after next. And the epilogue of this story will see wrap-ups with both Teams in both worlds - so just hold your horses, and let me get there!_

_Happy new semester, guys - try not to cry too much. _

_-Triscribe_

_P.S. Ack, I almost forgot again! Go to my profile page and fill out to poll I've set up, please! The more folks who do, I guarantee we'll be seeing an update sooner rather than later._


	11. Chapter 11

Robyn growled as the clown danced into her field of vision again. It was getting harder to talk through the pain, so the teen settled for intimidating noises.

"Aw, is the little birdie getting tired on me?" Joker crooned, coming forward to trace a finger across Robyn's bruised cheek. The young crimefighter wasn't sure how long she'd been locked in this room, undergoing various bouts with her old enemy, but by now there was very little of her that wasn't injured in some manner.

Bruises dotted Robyn's exposed skin, which was much greater than usual thanks to Joker cutting away her sleeves, gloves, boots and pants legs just above the knees. When making the knife cuts, the clown hadn't been particularly careful about avoiding stabbing the flesh beneath the clothing, staining the floor of the room crimson red. Then, she'd replaced the wrist and ankle restraints with coils of wire that bit into Robyn's skin, and started randomly punching, slapping or kicking the prone teenager. At least one rib was cracked if not broken outright, and Robyn didn't think her limbs were in any better condition.

"Well, maybe we need to wake her up a bit more!" The girl stiffened a split second before the ice water was upended over her; there were several empty buckets by the opposite wall, and quite a few full ones ready and waiting.

Her shivering renewed, Robyn cracked her eyes open again to glare once more at the madwoman, grinning even wider than usual. She didn't doubt for a minute that the evil clown was planning on keeping her awake as long as possible. Already, exhaustion was slowing down her mental processes, and would get much worse before getting better.

A sudden, blaring alarms startled both of them.

"Sounds like... My help's here..." Robyn rasped, traditional smirk appearing once again. Frowning, Joker stalked over to the door, and pounded for a full minute until it finally opened.

"What's the matter with you goobers?!" She demanded of the guard who stepped into the doorway.

"Sorry, ma'am, we've come under attack. My orders are to move the prisoner for transport to another facility." Robyn felt panic blossom, silently praying her rescue came before the guard could get too far.

"Oh, really?" Sighing, the Joker raised her hands to start fiddling with the lapels on her coat. "That's too bad, sonny." A split second before Robyn could scream a warning, the clown activated her acid flower.

The guard's screams only lasted bare moments, and the hands clutching at his throat hid the damage, but Robyn still shuddered at the horrifying sight. Once the man had collapsed to the floor, Joker turned back to her, smile in place once more.

"Now, little Robbie, why don't you and I hit the road together, hm? See if we can't find someplace more fun than this dump?" Weak struggling didn't help in the slightest as Robyn felt the gloved hand grasp the back of her tunic, and start to drag her from the room.

-CC-

The pair of guards racing down the hallway didn't even have time to register the black form in front of them before each was taken down in a burst of pain.

Batman took only a bare moment to cuff the unfortunate men together before continuing on his way. Entering the base had been child's play - by the time the airborne squad began their distraction, the two stealth teams were inside and beginning their respective tasks.

"_Aqualass to Batman." _He swiftly raised a hand to the comm. link, still checking each room as he passed despite knowing it would be closer to the end of this hall.

"Go ahead, Aqualass."

"_We've secured the main storage room, and Flash is gathering samples of the Astral energy. What is your squad's status?"_

Batman couldn't help the slight growl. "I'm en route to the containment room their records displayed as holding Robyn. The others are currently holding back a group of guards who sought to interrupt."

"_... Understood. Aqualass out."_ Finally, he reached the eleventh door - and found it already open. Slipping out a percussion batarang, Batman prepared to push the door aside and take aim at any foes within.

He was greeted with the body of an obviously dead guard, and bloodstains.

Lots of bloodstains.

Briefly, Batman found himself leaning against the doorway, horribly reminded of another occasion when his own Robin had been trapped scrambling in a warehouse with several trigger-happy thugs. He'd received multiple gunshot wounds before getting out and to a spot where the communicator could punch a signal through to the Batcave. Those injuries had thoroughly stained the concrete by the time Batman finally found his partner's hiding place, a sickening image he'd not forget easily.

Robyn was going on seventeen hours of captivity at this point. Batman didn't want to think about how many of those had been torturous for the slim teen.

"Batman to Black Canary!" He barked, turning and retracing his steps.

"_What is it? Did you find Robin?"_

"The containment room's empty. I need you and the others to prevent any guards from getting to the vehicle bay on the lower level."

Her response was momentarily put on hold by a sonic scream, overlayed with the shrieks of pain from several parties. "_We're on it. Find her as quickly as you can, Batman."_

He didn't bother to reply to that.

-CC-

"Coming through!" Joker hollered, letting loose one of her terrifying laughs. The workers among the jeeps and trucks of the room weren't trained for combat or dealing with psychopathic clowns - they scattered in seconds.

Taking a deep breath, Robyn tucked her knees to her chin, and maneuvered to slip her wire-bound arms underneath her feet to the front of her weakened body. Then the teen reached up to grasp the wrist of the hand still clutching the back of her shirt. When Joker glanced down, Robyn twisted and _yanked_.

Unready for the sudden weight, the madwoman nearly lost her footing and pitched over. She recovered just in time, instead launching a swift kick into her prisoner's ribs. Robyn gasped at the flare of pain, unable to register any other sensation before she found herself being deposited into the passenger seat of an armored truck.

"Now, you just sit tight until Auntie J gets us someplace nice and quiet, alrighty?" The menacing giggle was drowned out by the engine starting.

-CC-

The room was in disarray when he arrived, and Batman didn't waste any time in zeroing on a target. One unlucky guard had his head down and was stumbling straight towards the Dark Knight. His fist shot out, knocking the man back into the concrete wall. Before he had time to recover, the hand came again, this time gripping the front of his black uniform.

"Where did your men take the girl?" Batman growled, lifting the terrified guard a little higher on the wall, enough that his feet were barely touching the ground.

"W-we d-didn't t-t-take her anyw-where." He tried to stammer out. "Th-the J-jok-ker Kn-knock-off d-did." The Bat's grip momentarily went slack, before tightening even more.

"_When _and _where." _Speech gave out on the shaking guard, but he was still able to raise a trembling finger and point to the furthest bay doors, and the road that lay beyond the the opening.

In the time between when Batman released him and when the guard collapsed upon the ground, the crimefighter was already halfway across the vehicle bay. Jumping into the first truck that pointed in the correct direction, Batman started it up and plunged out the open doors.

"_Superman to Batman, we have the materials and most of the squad members back to the Bioship. Where are you-"_

"Not now!" He barked. "When the Teams were switched at the factory, they weren't the only ones. The Joker of the other dimension is here, and she just left this facility with Robyn."

There were a few moments of stunned silence before the Man of Steel responded. "_Do you want back-up?"_

"Only if I can't catch up to them." And with the breakneck pace he was setting on the icy road, that was rather doubtful. "Once you all are back aboard the Bioship, have Martian Junior bring it around to the southern road and be ready to respond to my orders."

"_Alright. Be careful, Bruce."_

_-T-_

_Heh heh heh. Next chapter will be soon, I promise. And just to clarify, it's January in a forest-covered mountain range. I figure there'd be ice and snow around. _

_I finally got on a roll again today, with unintentional help from my friend Aisling Moon._

_Blame her for what happens next, too._

_-Triscribe_


	12. Chapter 12

With a snow storm starting to move in, it was harder to see the road and any tracks on it.

But there was no way Batman could miss the truck, identical to the one he was driving, lying on it's side, crashed into a copse of trees just ahead where the road turned.

Breathing coming imperceptibly faster now, the crimefighter nearly ran his own vehicle into the trees as he hit the brakes. The tires skidded on the icy ground, but when they finally halted he was out in an instant, searching for signs of what had happened.

From the angle of the truck compared to the road, Batman figured the steering wheel must have been suddenly jerked to one side. It had slid for several yards before slamming into a pair of close-set pine trees, moving at considerable speed, it the nearly bowled over trunks were anything to go by. The passenger door had been thrown open into the air, and he spotted more bloodstains leading out of it and onto the snow, though further on they and any footprints had been thoroughly obscured.

Leaving him with an entire forest to search through.

-CC-

Robyn shivered, trying to hold her arms a little closer to her chest without aggravating her wounds any more.

Maybe escaping into a snow storm was a bad idea. Especially since her uniform was pretty much sliced into uselessness. Staggering into another tree, the teen growled and narrowed her eyes.

"Get ahold of yourself, Graydottir." She muttered.

"_Get ahold of yourself, Grayson." _The voice came out of nowhere, like a whisper on the wind, but Robyn jerked in surprise because it sounded so close. She really hoped this wasn't the onset of insanity, because the young hero had enough on her plate right now.

Trying to take another step, Dixie instead nearly collapsed face-first onto the ground. Staggering, she leaned back into the tree trunk, trying to collect some strength back.

Easier said than done. Well, as long as she wasn't trying to walk, maybe this would be a good opportunity to work on her bonds some more.

The wire coils that had been around her ankles were disposed of almost as soon as the teen had gotten out of the truck. Those had still been warm and malleable - not to mention the adrenaline burst that had her working at and snapping a loop in record time. These coils around her wrists, though, had chilled considerably, and were much stiffer than before. The blood frozen on them didn't help matters either.

Sighing, Robyn set to worrying at one loop that seemed a little weaker than the rest. As she did so, memories of the events of the last few days drifted through the teen's head.

"_Junior, watch out!" Robyn's warning came seconds too late as the smoke billowed, catching and curling around Mar'gann's form. Immediately, the other guards in the area took notice and started shouting, several aiming their weapons at the invisible distrubance._

_*Team, attack.* Aqualass ordered calmly, launching out from her place behind a stack of storage crates. A yellow and green blur that was Kid Flash carrying Apollo zipped around, arrows being fired at strategic targets. With a roar, Supergirl landed amidst the guards who were firing at Martian Junior, and started taking them down._

"_Snug tfil otni eht ria!" Yelled Zetenni, causing the weapons of another batch of goons to jerk out of their grips, just in time for Rocket to zoom in, delivering punches and high kicks._

_Robyn had gone after Joker. The madwoman had started cackling when the fight began, though she made no move to join it._

"_Well, hello there, little birdie! Fancy seeing you here!" Robyn didn't bother responding; she launched her disks with pin-point accuracy, knocking Joker's pistol away and pinning her to the wall. "Oh, now isn't that rude." The teen crimefighter would have continued to make sure the clown was down for the count, but she had to dodge incoming bullets first. Then it was one goon after another, until the explosion that knocked them all out._

_When Robyn awoke, she was half buried in rubble, a nearly collapsed support pillar the only thing keeping her skull from being crushed. The first thing she'd done was activate the emergency beacon on her gauntlet; then was the painstaking effort of digging herself out._

_Gasping as he pulled his legs free of the rubble, he looked around blearily, trying both the comm. and mental link, but striking out on both counts. Then his eyes caught a bit of white against black, and he was scrambling across the rubble to the other teen._

"_Zatanna!"_

Robyn blinked. That wasn't her memory... Was it? Thinking clearly was getting harder by the second, as the teen tried to ignore the fact she could no longer feel her fingers or bare feet.

The wire was refusing to budge - she'd have to just keep on going, and hope to get rid of it later. Robyn wasn't sure when she'd ended up sitting at the base of the tree, but now getting back to a standing position seemed like a monumental task. Eventually, she was upright, and moving once again as more memories trickled in.

_She'd taken almost as long to free Zetenni as it had to dig herself out, and when the gash on his leg came into sight, Robyn knew she had to address it before searching for any of the others. It was a pain, dragging him over to the shallow cave of debris she'd spotted earlier, but once there the teen was able to focus on the wound._

_It was long - not too deep, but was still bleeding a fair amount. He reached into a compartment on his utility belt, pulling out swabs to clean the gash with, antiseptic and bandages. Working steadily for a few minutes, and letting out the occasional curse, he almost didn't notice the approaching footsteps until they were practically on top of their shelter._

_Then someone stopped directly behind him. Risking a pause and glance over his shoulder, the teen didn't have time to worry over the sight of a very familiar symbol on a very UNfamiliar figure._

"_So... I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you aren't Batman."_

"_No. I'm Batwoman."_

Robyn shook her head vigorously, or at least, tried to. That definitely wasn't what had happened, but everything, from the thoughts in her head to the scenery around her was getting so fuzzy, hard to make out. "What's happening to me?" She couldn't help but whisper fearfully.

"_What's happening to me?" _The other voice whispered back. Robyn was glad, just a little, that she wasn't the only one dealing with this problem.

-CC-

Wrapping his cape around himself to keep it from being blown about by the wind, Batman kept his eyes constantly scanning for any sign of the missing teen. He'd told the other heroes to patrol along the road with small swoops over the forest, but to stay within a range where he could call them easily for pick-up. If Robyn was as truly alike to Dick as he'd seen, the man didn't think she'd go too far.

Unless running from something. Which was a distinct possibility.

Forced to turn his head aside in a particularly cold slap of wind, when Batman returned to his scanning, his eyes spotted a humanoid shape amidst the trees ahead. He opened his mouth to call out, hoping against hope she would be _alright, _only to duck as something came whistling at his head.

A razor-edged playing card.

"Sooo, you must be the Big Bad Bat I've heard about, right? What's the matter - lost a little birdie? I'm afraid the one that's somewhere around her is taken. A little past her sell-by date, though, so you shouldn't feel like you're missing out." Stepping forward, Batman could make out a pale-faced woman with green hair and wearing the same purple suit as his old enemy. Her lips curled hungrily, and there was a predatory glint to the woman's eyes. "My, my. You certainly are a lot easier on the eyes that the other Bat-nut I go up against." She flicked out a knife into one hand, holding two more playing cards in the other. "Howsabout a dance, handsome?"

Batman growled, launching himself at the clown. He dodged the first thrown card, was clipped by the second, and closed the distance too quickly for his opponent to pluck forth another one. Instead, she started whipping the knife around in a series of chaotic slashes, moving almost too quickly and randomly for him to dodge. As one attack landed a long scratch through the arm of his suit, Batman was in the process of driving the other arm forward into Joker's gut.

She let out a long wheeze, doubling over - but then surprised him by dropping further, aiming to stab one of his legs. Batman lifted the limb, turning his evasion into a kick that drove the clown into an especially thick tree.

"Ha! I knew there was a reason I liked fighting in cities!" She grinned widely, despite the complaining. "Old Ivy woulda loved this, though. Too bad he couldn't show up with some of those nifty vines." Batman put an end to the rambling by driving his fist into the woman's jaw. It broke with an audible _crack_, and he didn't bother to catch the clown as her eyes fluttered closed and she sagged to the ground.

"Batman to Bioship, I need you to come pick up a prisoner..."

-CC-

"_My name's Cedric, and I understand you've been having a hard time lately...?" And he looked and sounded so much like Bruce that it hurt._

Then the figure in Robyn's mind blurred, and suddenly she wasn't looking at Cedric, there was a similar but different form before her, and it was moving closer. Startled, she did the first thing to spring to her mind: Robyn lashed out with both fists, connecting to something solid and hearing an _oomph_. She couldn't tell if it was more from pain or surprise, but now her feet joined in, aiming a kick at what she thought was a knee. Except, her aim was off, _way _off, and she ended up stumbling forward, right into a tight grip. When the hands closed around her strained shoulders, the teen gasped in pain, and tried to twist, to get away.

Then a familiar weight was wrapping itself around her, and she suddenly felt safe. Unable to tell when the strong arms gently scooped her up, the girl drifted off into darkness with one thought one her mind. _Breanna..._

_Then a familiar weight was wrapping itself around him, and he suddenly felt safe. Unable to tell when strong arms gently scooped him up, the boy drifted off into darkness with one thought on his mind. Bruce..._


	13. Chapter 13

_Important Note: This is the last official chapter. Also, I'm evil. /Wicked cackle_

"So... We're good to go, then?" Rocket asked nervously, eyeing the blend of chemicals within what he could only think of as a soup pot. Flash and Willow had carefully mixed in the various materials, including the chopped up bits of the semi-solid Astral energy, that weird blue-green stuff with streaks of orange.

"Yeah. We blow this up, the resulting disturbance with the dimensional barrier out to trigger a rift that will swap us back with the other Team." Kid Flash answered in a reassuring tone. It sounded so confident she almost convinced herself.

Superman took a deep breath. "I'll go get them, then."

Gathered in the heart of Mount Justice, the mentors and Team members prepared to set things right. Those who needed to had called or briefly visited the homes where they'd stayed, thanking the people who took them in for a few days. Now there was just the tense preparation for returning home.

It was only a couple of hours since they got back from the raid on the observatory. As soon as Mar'gann steered the Bioship into the hangar, Batman had hurried off with the cape-wrapped bundle that was Robyn, and neither of them had emerged from the infirmary yet.

The Man of Steel was the only one present who was remotely willing to intrude.

He moved slowly down the hallway towards the medical bay, dreading what he might find. Super hearing, though, had him speed up a little at the sound of relieved voices.

"... Absolutely certain?"

"Definitely. No idea about the science behind it, but it couldn't have been anyone else." Stepping through the infirmary door, Superman was grateful to see Robyn awake and coherent, even if she did have a football field's worth of gauze and bandages wrapped around her small form.

"What couldn't have been anyone else?" He asked. Both bats turned to look at him, and for a brief moment Superman was stunned to realize neither had their masks on.

"Oh, just a little double vision I had while descending into hypothermia." Dixie stated cheerfully, and Bruce shook his head with a smirk. Superman figured he wasn't likely to get anything more than that.

"Well, the blending pot's ready, if you think you're up to crossing back through the dimensional barrier."

Both of the human grimaced at that. "Bleh, as long as it doesn't involve having a building fall on us this time." Stifling a groan, Dixie moved to sit up. Before she could complete the action, Bruce stepped forward, lifting the edges of the cape still lying beneath the teen. He wrapped her up within it again, concealing the bruises and bandages, then lifted her into his arms.

"Um..." Superman raised a hand to stop them from exiting the room. "Masks?"

Two pairs of blue eyes blinked at him, one in puzzlement, the other with annoyance. "O-okay." The Kryptonian backed off before he was subjected to a Batglare, and trailed after the pair as they headed down the hallway towards the main room. He could hear the murmur of voices ahead of them, all of which cut off in an instant once Bruce and Dixie entered.

At least until Apollo's voice rang out. "Oh. My. God. _Dixie Graydottir?!_" Dixie cackled, Willow groaned, and then the surprised exclamations mixed with confused questions until nothing was distinguishable.

"Enough!" Bruce finally called out in his tone of you-will-listen-or-else. "Flash, are we ready to proceed?"

"Um, yeah... This is too weird... So, we stick in an explosive arrow, tick tick boom, and when the smoke clears everything should be fixed." The speedster reached up a hand to rub the back of his head anxiously. "I think. Probably. There's definitely a better than fifty percent likelihood." Nobody felt comforted by his scramble at the end.

Bruce walked forward and carefully set down Dixie to sit beside the soup pot. The other teens gradually gathered around her as well, Aqualass and Supergirl dragging forward the bound, gagged and still unconscious body of Joker.

"Well, not that this hasn't been fun," Kid Flash spoke up as her boyfriend got ready to activate the arrow. "But I really hope we never have to see you folks again." A few people snorted in amusement from the far boundaries of the room, and then the timer went off.

The explosion blew everyone's hair and loose clothing around, bright lights the colors of the Astral energy forcing the heroes to shut their eyes. It took nearly a full minute before the energies died down and people were able to return their gazes to the center of the room.

Eight teens and a supervillain were collapsed around an utterly destroyed soup pot.


	14. Epilogue

"You little jerks had us totally freaked out for a minute there, y'know?"

"For the millionth time, Uncle Barry, I know!" Wally couldn't help but laugh.

"I mean it! When I could finally see, and all of you were just lying there, I really thought 'oh, nuts, it didn't work, Iris is gonna kill me!'"

The red haired teen raised an eyebrow at his uncle's theatrics.

_The red haired teen raised an eyebrow at her aunt's theatrics. "That's not really what first popped into your head. It was probably something like 'well, I guess the Rogues are gonna have to get used to a different Kid Flash after all'."_

_Betty chuckled at her niece, reaching over the ruffle the hair that had been released from its braid for a short time. "Suuure, Kid. I'm glad to have you back, though, Willow."_

"I'm glad to have you back, though, Wally. After all, now you get to tell us just how weird we looked with swapped genders."

The teen groaned, rolling his eyes. "Oh ye gods, I thought I'd never get used to it! The worst thing was the different names, I swear..."

-CC-

"I can't believe it! That jerk did the same thing as me!"

"Artemis? What's wrong?"

"_Apollo? What's wrong?" Paul Crock wheeled himself into his son's, admittedly messier than usual, room._

"_She totally trashed my bedroom! That- that-"_

"That- that- bonebrained, imbecilic jerk!"

Paula just shook her head in amusement. "Technically, you are just insulting yourself."

"Argh, I know!"

"Is it just me, or does she sound angrier than usual?" Jade poked her head around the door frame with a smirk. "What's the matter, baby sis, other dimension have you stirred up?"

"_What's the matter, baby bro, other dimension have you stirred up?"_

_Jaden's smug expression faded, though, as Apollo narrowed his eyes in cold fury. "Jaden... Are you making Reyna Harper date you as payment for getting information for her?"_

"_Maybe."_

"_What!" The elder Crock brother realized his mistake as Paul's hand came up to latch onto his shirt collar. "Explain. This. Instant."_

"_Uh..."_

-CC-

"Oh!" M'gann exclaimed in joyful surprise. "He did it too! Connor, the other me did my homework assignments, just like I did for him!" Silence met the martian girl's declaration. "Connor?"

"_Cailin?" Mar'gann rose into the air and floated down the hallway. He would have sworn his girlfriend was right there..._

_Emerging into the hangar, Mar'gann came to a sudden halt, smiling softly. Romping around the open space below were Supergirl, Sphere and Wolf._

"_Go long, girl!" Cailin called to the massive animal._

"Go long, boy!" Connor called to the massive animal, launching a steel ball across the room. Wolf took off after it with a howl, Sphere rolling around him with her song of whirs and beeps. Both beings seemed exceptionally excited to have their favorite human home again.

"M'gann, have you seen- Oh."

"_Mar'gann, have you seen- Oh." Superwoman came to a halt beside the young martian as they watched the trio. "Oh, I wish I had a camera."_

"_Mm." He agreed with a hum. "...Did you need something?"_

"_I wanted to see if Cailin would be up to coming out to the family farm- after these past few days, our parents are insisting that she stay for a straight week."_

_Mar'gann's shoulders slumped slightly._

M'gann's shoulders slumped slightly. A couple of days was one thing, but a week without Connor.

"They instructed me to invite you as well - Connor's talked about you often enough, they decided a full family dinner was in order!"

"Oh! Thank you so much!" Superman chuckled at her brightened expression, then returned his attention to Connor acting like a regular kid and his pets.

-CC-

Zatanna lifted her eyes from the book as Rocket came stomping into the den. Her posture was one of anger, but there was a broad grin on the other teen's face.

"Grandmother pester you into the sky?" The magician asked coolly.

"That old woman is as irritating as ever."

"_That old man is as irritating as ever." Rocket should his head despairingly. "I can't believe how much I missed him."_

_Zetenni gave his teammate a polite smile as he turned the page, eyes dropping back down to the next picture in the scrapbook. It was of his fifth or sixth birthday, when his mom tried to wipe off the icing Zetenni had gotten smeared all over his face. He couldn't help the wistful look, or the longing in his heart, but Robyn's - Dixie's - advice was to remember the good times whenever it seemed to get harder. Zetenni intended to follow those words._

Zatanna intended to follow those words. She kept turning pages, and eventually Rocket stopped stomping around and came over to look over her shoulder. The young magician found herself turning back to the front of the scrapbook, explaining each picture, and replacing the heaviness in her heart with the happiness of remembering.

-CC-

Kaldur couldn't help the grin that came to his face as his old friends talked about Aqualass' visit. Eventually, he managed to calm Tula's frustrations about his alternate being more open about the surface world and her adventures than him. Garth merely smiled and shook his head at the girl's complaints, waiting until the very end to voice on of his own.

"When the Queen first spoke to us about this, Tula thought I would be impolite - she even smacked me for asking an honest question!"

"Asking if my alternate was truly me, only in different form?" Kaldur remembered.

Garth gaped at him. "How did you know that?"

_Graeth gaped at her. "How did you know that?" Kaldura merely grinned before waving her friends farewell. Swimming away, she still heard the sound of the gentle slap, followed by by Graeth yelping._

"_I knew you spoke too loudly!" Tulon admonished, laughing._

_Journeying through Poseidonis, but this time, the city that she truly knew, Kaldura felt at peace once again. The people, the sights, all had been returned to normal. Even the small park with its pack of playing children were once again the same._

_Coming to a stop beside the open area, the teen hero sighed, allowing the experiences of the past few days wash away._

"_Kaldura'ehm?" A young voice said from beside her._

"Kaldur'ahm?" A young voice said from beside him. Kaldur glanced down to see a mer-youth staring at him with wide eyes. He recognized the thin Atlantean - a junior student at the same school as Tula and Garth.

"Yes, L'gonn?" Putting on a polite face, the teen wondered what might be on the youth's mind.

"Who was that wearing your uniform? Was it your sister?"

"_Who was that wearing your uniform? Was it your brother?" Kaldura opened her mouth to respond, but then closed it thoughtfully. When she did speak a moment later, every word was honest._

"_In a way, Le'gon, he was."_

-CC-

"Will there be anything else you require tonight, Master Richard?"

"Nah, I'm fine, Alfred. Thanks for asking, though."

"Sleep tight, Dick."

"'Night, Bruce. 'Night, Alf." The light was shut off, and the door closed.

Safe in his bed, Dick thought about the voice he'd heard while lost in the forest. He'd been running on fumes at that point, but after waking up at the other Mount Justice, he'd been so certain it was Dixie, his alternate self. And the look of relief on Breanna's face when he said so... Pushing back the covers, he quickly stepped over to the closet, dug around for a moment, then swiftly returned to his warm spot. Wrapping Batwoman's cape around his shoulders, the teen closed his eyes again, focusing on the feeling of the garment rather than his array of bandages.

Despite being back home, he wondered if the voice would ever be heard again. If he would have a reminder that somewhere out there, across the dimensions of time and space, there was someone else going through the same things. Someone else who got it.

Wrapped under Batman's cape within her own bed, Dixie was wondering the same thing. Eventually, both teens slipped into sleep, content that, even if only for a little while, there had been proof that they were never alone. That they had a connection which would never be broken.

**-T-**

**Sorry about the long wait for this, folks. I was violently ill Sunday night, and was lucky to have gotten up the last chapter when I did. The past few days have not held many opportunities for putting together the epilogue. : (**

**Well, this wraps up Crossed Connections. Did you enjoy the story? And if so, will you come back to read the sequel in a week or two? **

**/Mischievous smirk**

**-Triscribe**


	15. Sequel is Out There!

Alrighty, and the sequel has begun! Takes place after the end of Season 2, bringing together members of both Teams and Leagues, and is my take of what really happened at the North Pole.

While there will be a fair amount of humor, also be prepared for just as much emotional strain from this story, but crammed into a much smaller space.

I'll see you all there!

-Triscribe


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